The Victoria Police Department is requesting a 9.71 per cent budget increase for 2025, arguing that the city council's proposed budget cut would lead to a reduction in services.

The request from VicPD, which serves both Victoria and Esquimalt, came before the Victoria committee of the whole on Nov. 21 during discussions of the 2025 provisional budget report, which was first presented to the Victoria Esquimalt Police Board finance committee in October.

In the report, the police board's finance committee chair Elizabeth Cull justified the nearly 10 per cent, or just over $7 million, increase. She highlighted stretched resources due to an increase in competition for police candidates, a need for enhanced employee wellness supports, space restrictions within the provincial police academy, and recent changes in WorkSafeBC legislation for occupational stress injuries.

"We hear the strong case for support from our residents and local business for an increased street presence," she noted in the report. "The environment has been continuously changing, including an unprecedented number of weeks of continuous protests, ongoing public issues around homelessness and addiction, a recent spike in youth crime, and increasing incidence of cybercrime and major crime investigations."

The 2023 Crime Severity Index, cited in the report, showed that violent crime increased by 6.1 per cent in Esquimalt and decreased by 9.4 per cent in Victoria. Non-violent crime decreased by 7.8 per cent in Esquimalt and increased by 19.2 per cent in Victoria. 

The budget increase includes a 6.3 per cent, or $4.5 million, increase for "unavoidable costs" like wage increases and the E-Comm 911 levy; another 1.85 per cent, or $1.3 million, is required for VicPDB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·™s share of integrated unit costs; and the remaining increase of 1.56 per cent, or $1.1 million, is due to inflation and "external cost pressures."

At the meeting, Cull said the budget would allow for more police officers in the community and more police visibility. Additionally, police will have faster response times, and more funding would allow for the capacity to monitor crime trends and engage in proactive policing.

The budget, Cull explained, "maintains our existing services. Almost all of the budget increase is related to things we have no control over: contracts, overtime, E-Comm, and our share of the integrated services. There's not much we can do there."

She mentioned a letter council sent to her, which asked for an over 2-million cut to the budget. She responded that it cannot happen without laying off staff and reducing services.

The entire budget as it's proposed B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·“ though it can and likely will be changed B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·“ would carry a close to three per cent tax increase for Esquimalt residents.

The Esquimalt council first discussed the plan on Nov. 18, though they decided to wait for a later date to finish the conversation as Cull wasn't available.

Victoria will continue to converse with the police board and the police department as their budget conversations continue in the coming months.