Victoria council backs police budget amid public opposition from some residents

By MAJENTA BRAUMBERGER

Despite public opposition to the proposed Victoria Police Department budget, council approved a motion to fund Victoria’s portion in full.

The city funds VicPD in partnership with Esquimalt, shouldering $69 million of the total $80 million-dollar budget for 2025, with Esquimalt responsible for the difference.

On Feb. 27, council voted 7-2 in favour, with councillors Susan Kim and Jeremy Caradonna opposed.

The decision comes on the heels of council’s February review of public input for Victoria’s 2025 draft budget, where the city invited Victorians to provide written comments or pre-recorded video and share it with the city via email.

Responses overwhelmingly opposed the proposed police budget increase of about 10 per cent. Of the 81 comments received regarding policing, 83 per cent objected to the proposed VicPD budget.

Many urged council to reallocate funds to social services. One letter read, “Stop increasing the funding for the police and start funding citizen needs for homes, health, jobs.”

Kim cited the public feedback in her decision to oppose the budget during the Feb. 27 meeting.

“I will be voting no, just to represent those folks who are asking for a no on this one,” she said.

Disparate results

VicPD conducts its own community outreach, and its findings contradict the public response to the city’s 2025 draft budget.

Cheryl Major, director of VicPD’s community engagement division, said in an email that the police board meets with Victoria and Esquimalt council and several community interest groups. VicPD also conducts an annual survey.

In the same email, Major said “years of statistically relevant community surveys tells us residents overwhelmingly feel that VicPD should be appropriately funded to address the concerns of the community.”

In 2024, VicPD randomly mailed 3,150 surveys to residents of Victoria, 587 of which were completed. Findings drawn from the responses included the perception of increasing crime, declining safety and a desire for more police presence.

Elizabeth Cull, vice-chair of the Victoria and Esquimalt police board, said the finance committee draws up a list of organizations to consult with on the budget each year, including business groups, tourism, social service providers and Indigenous support groups.

“But there’s only four of us on the finance committee. So the amount of consultation we can do is somewhat limited,” Cull said.

VicPD does not publish either the findings from these conversations or the list of organizations consulted publicly.

Victoria city council shared the public input it received on the 2025 budget with Cull, who read all the letters but said there was “clearly a campaign to send those letters in.”

Public input for the city’s 2025 draft budget was collected voluntarily from the public, who sent feedback in writing or by video between Oct. 25 and Dec. 20, 2024.

“You’re much better off if you look at their [the City of Victoria’s] poll results, because the poll is much more supportive of making sure the budget for the police is adequate. And that’s what we find when we do our surveys as well,” Cull said.

Cull is referring to a survey conducted as part of Victoria’s 2025 draft budget public engagement efforts. Results showed that residents think the city should give the most attention and investment to housing. Public safety ranked second.

Community dismay

Community advocates expressed disappointment over the police budget.

Sylvia Ceacero, CEO of the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness, said increasing the police budget is “a way of keeping the peace, not about solving the issue.” She said there is a lack of dialogue with the agencies on the ground, noting that her and many of her colleagues’ organizations in the homelessness services and housing sectors have not been consulted.

“I’m sure if 83 per cent of the population had said, ‘Of course you need to increase the police budget,’ that would have been used,” Ceacero said.

‘A bit of a charade’

But even if council had voted to oppose the VicPD budget, the city could still end up paying for it.

Kim said council considers what it thinks is reasonable, looking at the budget as “a holistic item, not just VicPD.”

“If the police board doesn’t like it, they’ll go appeal to the province as they have done,” she said.

The $69 million police budget approved on Feb. 27 includes a required $694,035 fee from VicPD’s successful appeal of 2023 budget items that a previous council declined to pay.

Counc. Dave Thompson voiced frustration during the Feb. 27 council meeting, saying the police budget “really isn’t up to council” because of legislation.

“Anytime we disagree with what the [police] board has proposed, it goes to an appeal and a bureaucrat makes the actual decision,” Thompson said, describing the council approval process as “a bit of a charade.”

As negotiations continue, it is unclear how the decision will affect other areas of the city’s 2025 budget.