While the City of Victoria has yet to decide how it will respond to the Victoria and Esquimalt Police Board’s decision not to trim its 2023 budget, Victoria Police Chief Del Manak made the case Thursday for the 9.6 per cent increase.
In a presentation to council Thursday, Manak said the Victoria Police Department is doing everything it can to ensure community safety despite being short on personnel and being asked to do more than ever.
He told council the force, which has an authorized strength of 255 officers, has several significant job vacancies and 25 to 35 people off at any given time due to occupational stress or injury.
“Staffing is a significant challenge, and so we’re trying to do as much as we can with the lack of resources that we currently face,” he said, noting the department aims to spread vacancies throughout the organization so no one section or division feels the full impact.
At the same time, calls for service ramped up over the last year to 38,909 from 37,660 in 2021 — although that’s still lower than the pre-pandemic figure of 40,491 in 2019.
Manak noted VicPD is dealing with one of the highest crime rates and crime severity indexes in the province. In the fourth quarter of 2022, he said, the department saw an increase in the number of random attacks with high levels of violence, along with several weapon seizures, a rash of property crime, and fraud and phishing scams.
To deal with it, the chief said they have undertaken an internal realignment that saw VicPD disband the beat-and-bike section and increase the capacity of the patrol division.
“The expectation is that our patrol division, which is the largest division that works 24/7, is now given the responsibility to actually be out in the community to do foot patrols and walk the beat,” he said. “We’re ensuring that more officers are taking ownership of providing a visible police presence.”
The goal is to have more officers on the street, build back the school-liaison program and rebuild the crime reduction unit, he said.
“We have many challenges. We’re doing the best job that we can, and I’m extremely proud of the officers in what they’re doing with the resources that they have,” he said.
The lack of resources is at the heart of the budget rift with the city. The Victoria and Esquimalt Police Board has told the city it is not prepared to amend its draft budget as requested.
The draft police budget anticipates a 9.6 per cent increase in costs to $69.5 million, driven by increased salaries. VicPD also requested funding for seven new staff — four civilian personnel and three frontline officers.
Victoria council, in an effort to limit a property tax increase to 6.9 per cent this year, directed its staff to rewrite a draft budget to limit any tax hike for 2023 to 6.9 per cent after the first draft budget would have required a tax increase of as much as nine per cent.
The police board was also directed to rewrite its budget with that cap in mind.
City council was expected to determine its response to the police board at a special meeting Thursday evening.
The department did hire 44 people last year — 14 new recruits, 10 experienced officers, four special municipal constables, four jailers and 12 civilians. But Manak said that will have to continue given the anticipated retirement rate.
The police chief told council that it’s no secret many supportive-housing facilities in the city are home to violent criminals, drug traffickers and people carrying out criminal enterprises, yet he hasn’t seen much from the province’s Safer Communities Action Plan to address that.
“There is no thought, in my opinion, that is given to the security and the safety needs of any new facility that opens,” he said. “There’s no discussion around what the impact is going to be on the police or the safety of individuals and the staff running these locations.
“What’s happening is the police are asked to do more with the same resources. And these facilities over the last number of years have grown exponentially. And our call volume has gone up exponentially. It’s not nuisance calls, it’s crime, it’s violence, it’s assaults, it’s drug trafficking.”
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
