The New Westminster Police Department’s proposed 2025 provisional budget is calling for a 9.76 per cent increase over its 2024 budget.
At its Oct. 15 meeting, the New Westminster police board unanimously supported a staff recommendation to receive the budget report from the manager of financial services. The NWPD’s proposed provisional budget reflects a proposed increase of 9.76 percent over 2024 – which was a bit of a decrease from what had been presented to city council a week earlier.
The 2025 draft provisional operating budget for the New Westminster Police Department calls for expenditures of $34,851,405 and increase of $3 million from the 2024 budget.
New Westminster city council and the police board met on Oct. 7 to discuss the police department’s 2025 operational budget. At that time, the NWPD was proposing a 10.03 per cent increase over its 2024 budget.
Jacqueline Dairon, manager of police financial services, said the proposed new increase of 9.76 per cent incorporates two recent changes.
“The adjustments were to the estimates for salaries. The city is starting to work through their budget process, and they've given us a slight revision on the salary estimate increase,” she said. “And then, as well, we received the update from the JIBC, so that is reflective of the 30 per cent.”
The department’s recruit training costs at the Justice Institute of British Columbia are rising from $24,375 to $31,688, effective April 1, said the report.
Despite the increase to training expenses, Dairon said staff were able to tweak the budget and reduce it a little bit.
According to a report to the police board, an external consultant hired in 2023 to do a survey on a mental health and workplace culture survey for the NWPD found that 34 per cent of sworn members were “above the clinical range for burnout” – with staffing shortages being identified as the Number 1 cause.
“With our current resource levels, members are consistently required to work extended hours, often under high-pressure conditions. This sustained workload demand without adequate support not only affects employee mental, emotional and physical well-being but also compromises their ability to effectively perform their duties,” said the report. “The current staffing challenges requires members to frequently cover multiple duties, leaving less time for proactive policing, community engagement, and other vital services, all of which are essential for maintaining property service delivery as well as staff wellness.”
To address these challenges, the New Westminster Police Department feels it is “essential” to enhance the budget through funding for its backfill strategy. This means hiring additional staff.
Reports from the NWPD finance staff to the police board and city council highlight issues including the complexity of modern policing (including technological demands and administrative responsibilities) and increased work demands due to a growing population.
The proposed 2025 provisional budget for non-discretionary items is $2.084 million, which represents a 6.56 per cent increase over the police department’s 2024 budget. Non-discretionary budget enhancements include: projected collective agreement settlements and cost increases for third-party contracts (such as services from E-COMM); recruit training from the Justice Institute of BC; a $30,000 forensic identification course for a member who must complete the course in order to do this work; and integrated teams, such as the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, Police Service Dogs, Emergency Response Team, and Collison Analysis and Reconstruction Service.
The report also outlines discretionary budget increases for 2025 that total$1.015 million – representing a 3.2 per cent of this year’s budget. These include funding for several priorities, including:
- Backfilling positions – filling temporary vacant positions due to leaves, including maternity/paternity, medical, and other vacancies: The NWPD is seeking $650,000 to fully fund this plan; this represents a 2.05 percent budget increase.
- Gang Suppression Unit: The NWPD’s Gang Suppression Unit, which launched in April 2020, has been receiving funds from senior levels of government. With provincial funding being gradually reduced, the NWPD will need to fully fund the unit’s operating costs. The NWPD is seeking $265,000 for 2025 to maintain GSU operations.
- Cyber security: Enhancements to the NWPD’s cybersecurity will cost about $70,000 per year, which is a 0.22 per cent increase.
Other priorities for discretionary budget enhancements include items in the areas of professional development, community engagement (Indigenous awareness, outreach, and input), digital evidence discovery, enhancement of recruitment activities, and honorariums for the board chair and vice-chair.
Deadline approaching
One of the New Westminster Police Department’s goals is to increase the number of sworn members, something it says would help address workload demands, population growth, and a lack of historical staffing increases.
“While initially submitted as a request for one FTE (full-time equivalent) dedicated to child sexual exploitation investigations, based on board feedback, this enhancement was expanded to four FTEs to support the frontline operations,” said the report. “However, due to the financial pressures from the backfill strategy and GSU funding, this priority has been deferred. It is important to note that even though we are deferring this required, the need remains.”
In order to meet the provincial government’s requirement to approve the police budget by Nov. 30, the New Westminster police board will the provisional budget at its Nov. 19 meeting. It is then able to make edits and changes until March 1.
Board member Alejandro Diaz questioned how the police board is able to share details about the budget with the community and let citizens know the board is responding to their concerns about funding of the New Westminster Police Department.
“I think that there is the perception that we are defunding the police,” he said. “We are not.”
Board member Mary Trentadue said it may be beneficial to put together a one-page, easy-to-understand outline that outlines some of the items funded in the police department’s budget.
“I agree that it would be helpful and transparent on the budget, and what it looks like, just to have the community understand what is all in that police budget,” she said. “Because it isn't necessarily just police officers. There are other things that make up that budget.”
