Ghost Officers
Why are we paying for police officers that don't exist?
It’s municipal budget season and since the police budget is such a large portion of our Regional budget, it makes sense to spend some time digging into it a little more. I have already written about the input sessions offered by the Police Services Board this fall (see below).
Police Budget Input Sessions
I’m busy trying to stay up to date on the many council meetings happening right now as municipalities prepare their 2024 budgets. You can expect to see several updates on the good, bad, and ugly in the draft budgets in upcoming weeks (There’s actually a lot of good!). Until then, I wanted to highlight the recent public input sessions on the police budge…
Today, I want to focus on the Waterloo Region Police Service’s (WRPS) plan to hire more officers. In order to do that, I have my first guest post of sorts! Regional Councillor (for Kitchener) Rob Deutschmann recently shared his concerns about how we are budgeting for the hiring of more officers. That piece was originally shared in the WR Record, but Rob has agreed to share it on Citified as well. Here is Rob’s piece, followed by my thoughts on these ‘ghost police’ (as one person on Twitter called them).
From Councillor Deutschmann:
The Waterloo Regional Police budget has become somewhat controversial, and some have questioned why.
Is it being reduced? No.
Is the budget growing? Yes.
The issues surround the pace of growth and the treatment of surplus funds. These issues are the root of the current debate.
Recent trends show a stark reality: expanding the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) team in theory doesn’t equate to immediate hires in practice. Across Ontario, police services, including WRPS, grapple with a hiring hurdle. Consider this: WRPS began 2022 with 797 officers, now at 810, despite being greenlit for 833 – that’s a shortfall of 23. Despite approval for an additional 54 officers over the past two years, the actual increase? A mere 13.
The challenge? WRPS is losing officers almost as fast as they’re hiring, with an average loss of 14 officers every quarter due to resignations, retirements, and transfers.
We acknowledge the need to bolster our force to match the Region’s growth. But wanting to hire and being able to are worlds apart. The hiring crunch isn’t unique to us; it’s a provincial plight. WRPS’s aspiration to add 18 more officers, along with 9 civilians, seems ambitious against this backdrop. This expansion would bring the authorized strength to 851. But let’s be realistic – given current trends, this could leave us with a deficit of 38 to 43 officers by the start of 2024.
The practical move? WRPS should hit pause on new hiring – both officers and civilians – for at least a year. This breather is crucial to close the gap between authorized and actual strength, ensuring we’re not just chasing numbers but building a robust, ready-to-serve force.
One may ask what’s the big deal with adding even more officers to the authorized complement. Well, whether we have the officers or not, the taxpayers are expected to pay WRPS for the full authorized number. Despite the shortfall of 23 officers, rather than pay for the 810 we have, the taxpayers of Waterloo Region pay for all 833 positions. This payment starts on January 1 and that results in a WRPS budget surplus.
If the funds for officers that were not hired, were returned to the Region, this would not be an issue. You pay for the service that is provided. One would think this is a reasonable and common-sense approach. However, what is happening is that the entire surplus stays with the WRPS. If you authorize more officers to hire than you know you can hire, then you are purposefully creating surpluses for the sole benefit of the WRPS. To fund this WRPS surplus, the Region is forced to find savings by cutting other Regional services or raising the tax levy.
The January 18, 2023, KPMG report noted that WRPS surpluses averaged $3.3 million from 2019 to 2021 largely due to staff on leave and delays in recruiting new staff. Following the KPMG report, the reported 2022 operating surplus was $284,000. Recently, it was disclosed that the 2023 operating surplus is to be $200,000. The final total is estimated to be $1 million due to a recent provincial government grant.
A large officer deficit contributes significantly to a surplus.
In the Q3 2023 WRPS Financial Variance report, it is noted that there is a Salaries and Wages surplus of $6,059,783, factoring in overtime costs. The high Salaries and Wages variance is understood when you have an average deficit of 35 officers per quarter. The report noted a total net levy surplus at Q3 2023 of $8,060,758. The question, fairly put, is what happened to the surplus from over $8 million now expected to be $200,000.
There should be no reallocation in the approved budget. Unless budgeted, there should be no movement or transfer of funds to reserves until after year end. We should know the true year end surplus position. Any allocation outside of the budget, before year end, results in a lower surplus. After the year end financial report, once the surplus is determined, then an assignment of any surplus should occur. The taxpayers of Waterloo Region deserve to know the facts.
Contrary to recent suggestions, the numbers cited exist in the reports provided by the Waterloo Region Police Services. What doesn’t currently exist is a proper explanation as to what is happening with the surplus.
A few thoughts from me…
Regular Citified readers know that I have numerous concerns about policing - and the high costs associated with it. However, this issue of so-called ‘ghost officers’ is less about one’s feelings on the institution of policing and more about fiscal prudence.
Chief Crowell says the large increase in the police budget request is due to "most notably, the plan to hire 18 more officers." But, WRPS were green-lit to hire 19 additional officers last year and haven't been able to meet that goal to date. And yet, WRPS has budgeted for an additional 18 new officer hires starting in January 2024 knowing full well that they are unlikely to catch up to even last year's hires, let alone new hires, by that time. Still, residents pay WRPS for those non-existent officers.
As Councillor Deutschmann says, “wanting to hire and being able to, are worlds apart.”
So, how best to deal with this issue? I think Rob’s proposal is an appropriate response: “WRPS should hit pause on new hiring – both officers and civilians – for at least a year. This breather is crucial to close the gap between authorized and actual strength, ensuring we’re not just chasing numbers but building a robust, ready-to-serve force.”
If the WRPS is not willing to pause this year’s hires until they meet last year’s goals, then I hope Regional Council will require this of them. In fact, I’ll be emailing Regional Councillors this afternoon to ask them to do exactly that. If you’d like to see that as well, you can contact your councillors here. I recommend doing so soon as the regional budget will be finalized on Dec. 13.
Agreed Melissa. This isn’t even asking for the defunding of the police. It’s asking for fiscal responsibility, which should be the bare minimum expectation of our tax dollars.
The other issue not addressed in this post is that the WRPS budgets are often only based on the previous years planned budget, not the actual amount spent. So even if they spend less or find efficiencies they’re asking for more based on a previous years planned budget, not the actual.
Thanks for all your advocacy and good information. I'm so bummed about the same old, same old at the Regional level.
If Council can't agree to make changes, I've been thinking about options.
One is to elect different people to council and most definitely to the PSB. Another is to look at how the province sets up the governance of the PSB and advocate for changes there.
What are your thoughts?