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January 20, 2005

January 20, 2005

Mayor Larry Campbell and Council
City of Vancouver
3^rd Floor
453 — 12^th Avenue West
Vancouver, BC V5Y 1V4

Dear Mayor and Council:

Re: Police Funding

The ratio of population to police officers in the City of Vancouver is higher than almost every other major city in Canada. In addition, the crime rate in the City of Vancouver is relatively high, so that the caseload per officer is far too high. The consequence is that there are inadequate police resources to properly address all of the aspects of policing. Police are forced to spend too high a proportion of their time on urgent calls and very serious cases. Matters such as property crime that are of substantial concern to citizens do not receive the attention that they should.

In a survey carried out by IPSOS-Reid just over a year ago, residents of the City of Vancouver showed that they would be willing to pay higher taxes for more police resources. A media release issued at the time accompanies this letter. Also, since that time the provincial government has begun to pay to each municipality the traffic fine revenue that results from traffic infractions in that municipality.

The City of Vancouver thus is in a position where there is a shortage of police resources, a desire of city residents to see that situation rectified; and the City has additional revenues that are supposed to be devoted to just this type of expenditure.

In the current city budget-planning process, we urge you to allocate the funds required to substantially increase the number of police officers in the City of Vancouver.

Sincerely,

Graeme Stamp
Chairman and Chief Elected Officer

Category: Policy

Policy 2005 Crime