The Hamilton Spectator

Facts matter on Hamilton police budget

CAMERON KROETSCH CAMERON KROETSCH IS A DOWNTOWN HAMILTON RESIDENT AND PROUD MEMBER OF THE WARD 2 COMMUNITY.

The recent op-ed by Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger is an embarrassment, in my opinion. It reads not only as if he’s been absent from our city for the past few years, but plays fast and loose with the facts.

He suggests that “every dollar” of the City of Hamilton’s largest budget line item is “spent wisely.” It begs the obvious question, how would he know? Has he audited every single dollar in HPS’ almost $184-million budget? No, he hasn’t. So why make such a ridiculous claim?

Eisenberger also states that he is all right with “small” budget increases that are “more or less in line with inflation.” But, under his watch, that’s not what has happened at all.

The mayor was a member of the Hamilton Police Services Board from 2006 to 2010 and then again from 2014 until his resignation in 2021.

Based on annual reports released during his time on the board, HPS’ budget rose an average of nearly 3.5 per cent per year. In the same period, according to average annual Consumer Price Index data from Statistics Canada, inflation rose at an average of just over 1.6 per cent per year.

That means increases to the HPS budget were more than double the average annual rate of inflation during Fred’s time on the board.

Like others who line up to defend any and every increase to the police budget without doing the required analysis, there appears to be a suggestion in the mayor’s op-ed that a reduction in the police budget would necessarily mean a reduction in front-line officers.

I disagree and think it’s once again important to look at the facts. According to statistics provided by the board from November 2020, the reporting ratio between constables (645), or front-line officers, to sergeants (144) is 4.5 constables for every one sergeant and the ratio between sergeants (144) and staff sergeants (35) is 4.1 to 1.

Using conservative estimates, the reporting ratio for most organizations is more than double what the HPS is using in these examples.

If the HPS used an organization-wide supervisory ratio of six supervisors for every one direct report, there could be an immediate savings of more than $8 million, based on the averages reported in the 2019 Ontario Salary Disclosure, without taking a single front-line officer off the street.

According to media reporting in 2020, a new traffic safety unit uses a reporting ratio of 19 to one. Imagine the savings if this ratio was used throughout the HPS.

In my view, the mayor’s article is not much more than a clumsy attempt to extoll himself for his service on the police board and to, again, come after a citizen for daring to be critical of his failing public record.

Worse, I think it’s irresponsible coming from our city’s mayor, especially since he should know better, having spent nearly 12 years as a member of the board, and more than two of those years as its chair.

When it comes to arguments about budgets, our elected officials should stick to the facts as they are, not as they want them to be.

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2022-01-18T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-18T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://thespec.pressreader.com/article/281758452658369

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