My Thoughts on the Police Funding Formula

Read my remarks from the August 23, 2023 Council meeting regarding the funding formula for Edmonton Police Service in full below.

I would like to start with a sincere thank you to my Council colleagues, City administration and the representatives from EPC and EPS that have contributed to today’s important conversation. This council takes public safety seriously.

Throughout this Council term, we have shown this commitment through our actions. When we were elected, tax-levy support for EPS was $384M, plus $22.5M from traffic enforcement. Today, that funding stands at $415M excluding salary settlements.

During this time, we made a significant decision to stabilize police funding by reducing their reliance on unpredictable traffic enforcement revenue by replacing it with property taxes. We also funded the Healthy Streets Operations Centre.

We did this while increasing our investments in crisis diversion, and shelter capacity — even though it’s not our responsibility. We invested in more affordable housing, are dealing with problem properties, and are investing in more peace officers.

I would like to take a moment to thank the members of our community, residents and business owners, who have spoken to me about their personal thoughts and experiences with policing and public safety in Edmonton over the past months. I have heard you. As the situation in our city evolves, it is important that we continue to be open with each other about the impact Council’s decisions have on the lives of every person in our City.

I acknowledge that despite these investments, Edmontonians continue to feel unsafe. Edmontonians are deeply concerned with the rising rate of violent crime and many don’t feel safe in public spaces, and that is not okay. They are concerned that there are more guns and poisonous drugs on our streets. They are worried about the impact on their families, their businesses and their fellow community members.

As the Administration’s report confirms, Edmonton has unique circumstances impacting policing and crime. Edmonton has a large shadow population — we act as a health and social services hub for the Edmonton region, northern Alberta and the territories, and we have a high concentration of federal and provincial correctional facilities.

I know the underlying reasons for crime are very complex and require multiple, coordinated responses that focus on prevention and early interventions. While we continue to grapple with the underlying reasons and collectively work toward solutions, police need more resources to control the situation now.

While council can’t direct the allocation of EPS resources by EPS management, I would expect, as do Edmontonians, that this increase in funding has an immediate impact that is seen and felt by Edmontonians. They expect to see more boots on the ground. When I talk about “boots on the ground”, I am not just talking about more officers. I am also talking about other support systems that need to be in place to make sure safety is improved. I look forward to hearing about these outcomes in EPC’s annual report to Council.

At this point, the bottom line for me is that as our City and our Region grows, we will continue to face challenges that make it necessary to provide a stable level of policing services. Edmontonians need to have confidence that both our Council and the Edmonton Police Service are aligned in the commitment to make our community safe.

To conclude, I want frontline police officers to know that they have my support. I deeply appreciate the incredibly difficult job they do each day to keep Edmontonians safe.

I hope that Council will support this motion today to offer the predictability and stability in resourcing for policing services in Edmonton. I look forward to continued conversations about the evolution of policing in Edmonton as I have also heard today that the Edmonton Police Commission, EPS, Administration and Council agree that we cannot respond to the complex factors driving crime in our city with a purely enforcement approach. We need other solutions as well.

Watch the discussion in full at the link above.