PROPERTY TAX PAYERS SUBSIDIZING FEDERAL POLICING, SAYS NEW STUDY
Half a billion dollars the cost of extra workload on local police forces

:: Policing Report

:: Backgrounder

QUEBEC CITY, May 29 -- Even as property taxes skyrocket in municipalities across the country, local taxpayers are subsidizing federal police enforcement to the tune of more than $500 million a year, according to a new report on federal policing released today by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).

The report, Towards Equity and Efficiency in Policing, shows how municipalities have seen their share of policing costs rise dramatically over the last 20 years, while municipal police forces have had to take on more and more of the traditional federal enforcement role.

The estimate of more than $500 million is the value the report places on the amount of time municipal police officers spend enforcing federal laws or delivering federal mandates. It is based on 10 per cent of the annual $5.39 billion spent by municipal governments on local police services.

“As first responders, municipal governments are more and more often left to enforce laws and provide services—border control, interdiction and enforcement on the Great Lakes, or combating cyber crime—that fall squarely within federal jurisdiction,” said FCM President, Winnipeg Councillor Gord Steeves. “Local taxpayers should not be subsidizing the federal government.”

In Canada, the federal government discharges its policing responsibilities through the RCMP, while provincial police enforce the Criminal Code of Canada and provincial statutes within areas not served by a municipal police service. In all provinces but Ontario and Quebec, the RCMP provides provincial and territorial policing and policing in some 200 municipalities under a standard provincial police services agreement.

In setting the cost of RCMP contract municipal policing, the federal government assumes municipally contracted RCMP officers spend a minimum of between 10 and 30 per cent of their time enforcing federal laws. The report argues that it follows that municipal police officers would also be expected to spend between 10 and 30 per cent of their time enforcing federal laws.

This interpretation is supported by growing federal mandates that stem from a more complex security environment. Under current policing arrangements, municipalities are not compensated for this, leaving municipal property taxpayers directly subsidizing a growing suite of federally mandated police services and responsibilities.

The report makes two recommendations: the appointment of a special panel to review the existing distribution of policing functions and, pending this review, a $539.4 million annual compensation to municipal governments to pay for the additional police services they must provide. 

“Where ambiguity around policing roles exists, two issues arise:  who pays and who polices. Our study shows that municipal governments are doing both,” said Steeves. “The property tax should not be used to pay for border security or the protection of foreign dignitaries. The system is broken and it´s time to fix it.”

For more information:  Maurice Gingues, (613) 907-6395