Toronto’s police chief says he’s “disappointed” following Mayor Oliva Chow’s budget unveiling, which does not include the police service’s recommended operating budget for 2024, a move he says will significantly impact public safety.
On Thursday, Chow unveiled her version of the city’s 2024 budget, which does not include the $20 million boost that the Toronto Police Service requested. Instead, it maintains city staff’s recommendation of a $7.4 million increase, which police Chief Myron Demkiw called disappointing.
In December, the Toronto Police Service said its proposed net operating budget for 2024 was $1.186 billion — a $20 million increase from the 2023 approved budget.
Shortly after Chow’s announcement, Demkiw told members of the media that it’s a “critical point in history” for both the city and the police service.
“I’ve been very, very clear, without the $12 million dollar increase to our budget that the police service board approved, we will not be able to hire four classes of 90 police officers and essential civilian professionals this year,” he said.
He added any gains made on the front line this year would be “wiped out in 2025,” without the capacity of being able to hire these needed classes of officers this year. “In fact, we will be moving backwards,” he said.
Chief Demkiw noted that not only has the city grown exponentially but calls for service and crimes are up 19 and 18 per cent respectively across the city this year.
“As the chief of police, I will continue to remind city decision makers that losing $12.6 million from the board’s unanimously approved budget will have consequences for service delivery and service degradation.”
He said that 90 per cent of what the service spends in policing is on people, “and what we need right now are more people.”
Demkiw says his command team will looking at making some “very difficult choices” to ensure that there are enough officers available for emergency responses.
He said the service will have to evaluate and determine which essential services they will have to “degrade or cut altogether” in order to ensure that all core service needs are met, “in particular, our ability to respond to the residents of Toronto when they need us the most.”
As to what services could be cut, Demkiw said the repercussions would be “felt across the city in various ways.”
“This may be the most significant budget conversation we’ve had in the city as it relates to public safety and our capacity to actually meet any reasonable expectations of our requirements by legislation,” he said.
Mayor Chow has pushed back against the Toronto Police Service, saying what’s being allocated is “more than fair.”
Chow is planning to finalize and approve the budget by Feb. 14, though councillors will still have an opportunity to suggest changes to the financial plan before then.
— With files from Global News’ Isaac Callan.