Increasing police budgets doesn’t necessarily reduce crime rates in Canada, according to a study led by a University of Toronto team.

The research found “no consistent associations” between police funding and crime rates across 20 large municipalities, including Hamilton, Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg and Montreal.

“Our results point to this more complicated relationship [between police and crime rates] and other factors at play,” lead author Mélanie Seabrook told CBC Hamilton on Wednesday.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Canadian Public Policy in December, notes there has been little research examining police funding. The researchers say this is the first study of its kind in Canada.

The findings come at a time when police services in many municipalities are working to get increases in their budgets, which have consistently grown over the years.

Christopher Schneider is a sociology professor at Manitoba’s Brandon University who researches policing and technology and wasn’t part of the U of T study. He said the research “has the potential to be groundbreaking” and hopes it will spur public conversations about how to make communities safer.

Seabrook said the key takeaway for decision-makers and the public is to take community needs and priorities more into consideration when setting budgets.

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CBC News
January 18, 2024