New Westminster’s acting police chief hopes that whichever party forms government in B.C. takes action to remove financial barriers for training at the Justice Institute of BC.
At its October meeting, the New Westminster police board received correspondence from the JIBC regarding recruit tuition and cost recovery rates that will take effect April 1, 2025. The letter to chief constables of municipal police departments in B.C. stated that increased rates will be in effect for the three intakes of 64 recruits at the JIBC in the 2025/2026 year, which goes from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026.
According tot the JIBC, the rate increases are required to keep pace with increasing Police Academy (PA) operating costs.
“Our analysis predicts that total PA operating costs will increase by 14 per cent over current year budgeted costs,” said the letter. “Please be reminded that due to underspending through 2023/2024, rates increases were held to five per cent for the current year, and this prior rate increase abeyance is now affecting rates for 2025/2026.”
Staring April 1, recruit tuition will increase from $15,315 to $18,378. Agency cost recovery for police departments will increase from $24,375 to $31,688.
New Westminster Police Department Acting Chief Const. Paul Hyland said the increasing costs of training to become a police officer is impacting police department’s budgets and people who are considering a career in law enforcement.
“We're going to see some significant cost increases there to recruit tuition and also to each municipality,” he said during a recent discussion about the NWPD’s 2025 budget. “It's a 30 per cent hit. This won't take effect until April 1, so that will affect our recruits in the later half of 2025.”
Hyland told the police board it’s challenging when third-party costs are increasing at such a significant rate.
Board member Heather Boersma questioned if there have been discussions related to a training contract between the New Westminster Police Department and the JIBC for training, so it would be tied to certain rates.
“That contract, as I understand it, is between the provincial government, and the JIBC as the service provider for police recruit training,” Hyland said.
Given that the contract is between the province and the JIBC, Boersma suggested the New Westminster Police Department should not be paying for those services.
Hyland said he would personally support a model like that in place in Ontario, where the provincial government fully funds police recruit training, but that’s a policy discussion to be considered at the provincial level.
“It's a significant cost to people that are interested in getting into a career in policing,” he said. “We have a very challenging labour market.”
Hyland said police departments are starting to see some “non-traditional” recruits, such as younger people who are just coming out of university and want to pursue a policing career immediately rather than waiting until they have more life experiences.
“They obviously have not potentially been in the workforce; they're carrying student debt,” he said. “So, anything we can do to reduce that (cost) certainly would assist us in our recruiting endeavours.”
Having the province cover the cost of police recruit training would also benefit municipalities, Hyland said.
“These costs are going up. These are costs that are being relayed to municipalities, and that money could be … spent elsewhere,” he said. ‘
While he fully supports funding “on the back end” for “very important institutions” like the Independent Investigations Office and the Police Complaints Commissioner, which are looking at potential mistakes or misconduct or issues, he also supports investments on the “front end” that assist recruits with their initial training.
“I think is important as well,” he said.
According to a 2025 budget report, the NWPD has permanent funding for nine recruits at the JIBC. The department requested additional funding for 2024 to support five additional recruits, totalling 14 for 2024, with the NWPD being able to secure 12 recruit seats with the JIBC.
“As we continue to analyze and predict retirement and attrition rates, it has become apparent that hiring nine recruits annually will not be sufficient to mee our staffing needs,” said the report. “Therefore, the department is requesting that a portion of the temporary funding approved in the 2024 budget become permanent to support 12 recruits annually.”
