November 2007

Complement of Police Officers on the Rise

In November, Statistics Canada reported that Canada’s complement of police officers recorded its second largest annual increase over the past 30 years this year. Statistics Canada reports the country’s police forces employed 64,134 officers on May 15 a 2.7 per cent increase from the previous year.

Ontario and British Columbia alone accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total gain of about 1,700 male and female officers. The country had the most police per capita - 195 per 100,000 population - since 1993.

Canada had 11,853 female police officers in 2007, up six per cent from the previous year, while the number of male officers rose two per cent. Women now account for about one in five officers, compared with about one in 10 a decade ago.

Police strength in Canada increased steadily during the 1960s and ’70s, peaking in 1975 at 206 officers for every 100,000 population. It then declined slightly over the following 20 years, but has been on the rise over the past decade and the 2007 rate was five per cent lower than the peak, but two per cent higher than in 2006.

Police strength in Canada was well below that in many other industrialized nations. For example, police strength ranges from 222 to 270 officers per 100,000 population in the United States, Australia, and England and Wales.

Since 1997, all provinces have recorded increases in police strength, with the biggest gains in Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan reported the highest rate for the seventh straight year - 207 officers per 100,000 population - followed by Manitoba and Quebec. Saskatchewan and Manitoba are among the provinces with the highest crime rates in the country, while Quebec has one of the lowest.

The lowest rates of police strength were reported in Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta.

Among census metropolitan areas, Thunder Bay, Ont., had the highest rate, followed by Saint John, N.B., Winnipeg and Montreal. The lowest rates were in Saguenay and Gatineau, Que., Quebec City, and Kingston, Ont.

Police cleared 36 per cent of crimes in 2006, slightly higher than the 30-year average. They solve violent crimes at a much higher rate, however, clearing 72 per cent of all violent crimes in 2006, up from 69 per cent in 2004. Clearance rates for violent crimes had generally been declining since peaking at 76 per cent in the mid-1990s.

In 2006, spending on policing amounted to almost $10 billion - a 4.4 per cent increase over 2005 after adjusting for inflation.