The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) ends the year 2022 in the red by nearly 50 million, mainly due to the explosion of overtime, which cost twice as much as expected, while the response times are increasing.
More than $61 million in overtime was paid to police officers over the past year, while the amount anticipated for this expense was $28 million, reveal the financial documents unveiled Tuesday following the presentation of the municipal budget.
The SPVM’s budget was set at $727.5 million for 2022. Actual expenditures of $776 million are now forecast by the end of the year. For 2023, the municipal administration has planned a budget of 787.1 million.
Public safety is the biggest expense for the City of Montreal. In recent years, the police have experienced recurring cost overruns of several million dollars.
In 2021, paid overtime reached 60.6 million. The SPVM then attributed this situation to the pandemic, the outbreak of gun violence and the hockey playoffs.
Over the previous four years, overtime varied between 37.4 million and 42.4 million.
While overtime increases, response times have been steadily increasing since 2016, reaching 6 minutes 11 seconds. Six years ago, the police took 5 minutes 35 seconds to respond to an emergency call.
The SPVM report also shows a drop in the proportion of recruits from minority groups, even if the police force says it is making efforts to be more representative of Montreal’s diversity.
The interim head of the SPVM, Sophie Roy, will present her department’s budget to the Finance and Administration Commission on December 6. Pending this presentation, the police department did not want to comment on these results.
123 more police officers
The administration of Valérie Plante pointed out that the 787.1 million planned in 2023 to pay for police services represented an increase of 63.2 million compared to the budget planned for 2022.
She assures that this increase will allow the SPVM to hire 123 additional police officers during the coming year.
Most of this sum, or 45 million, will come from the Quebec government, which granted Montreal a few months ago 250 million over five years to fight against armed violence, in particular by adding 270 police positions.
In 2021 and early 2022, Montreal experienced numerous episodes of gun violence, prompting Quebec to intervene. However, incidents have been rarer in recent months.
“Public safety is a priority for our administration, and the operating budget is aligned with our Montreal model, which continues to be refined and built,” said the mayor at a press conference, noting that the City would also add 10 million for the Mobile Social Intervention Mediation Team (EMMIS), 5 million for prevention, 1.7 million for the By and for young people program and 1.3 million for securing schools.
The Sex Offender Monitoring Team will expand with the addition of seven resources, due to “growing needs” in this area, the budget says. Work will also continue to modernize the 911 call system, which will cost $151.4 million over 10 years.
The City aims to reach a workforce of 4,793 police officers by 2025, but over the past year, the recruitment process has encountered some difficulties, due to the scarcity of manpower.
Delay for body cameras
For the installation of body cameras on police uniforms, promised for 2022, then for 2023, the City has budgeted 16.5 million over 10 years, but only $775,000 for the next year.
“We are waiting for the signal from Quebec,” explained the president of the executive committee, Dominique Ollivier, at a press conference after the tabling of the budget. Indeed, the Ministry of Public Security plans to deploy these cameras throughout the province, and Montreal does not want to go ahead with choosing a technology that would be different from the rest of Quebec, she said.
Montreal does not favor a camera system using cell phones, which has been deemed ineffective.