Edmonton could slash police budget over concerns about systemic racism
EDMONTON Freezing Edmonton Police Service funding in 2021 and holding a public inquiry on its street check policies are two of 12 proposals city councillors will consider in an effort to address systemic racism.
These recommendations brought forward by Mayor Don Iveson and Coun. Andrew Knack Wednesday morning followed council’s first chance to speak with Chief Dale Mcfee since an escalation in calls to defund the service and change policing practices.
Iveson said he wants the city to analyze how some of the police budget could be reallocated to existing or new community initiatives, such as Reach Edmonton’s 24-7 Crisis Diversion program, for service calls related to mental health, addictions and homelessness.
“Perhaps some of those dollars could be reallocated to some of these other prevention programs if it can be shown that there would be good value for money, better community impact,” he told reporters following the meeting. “There is this tension between spending more on police resources and technology versus actually pivoting to the prevention strategies and I think the opportunity to do more on the prevention side, to reduce demand for policing reactivity to challenges in our community, I think that was a message that came through loud and clear.”
If approved by council, the city will propose budget adjustments to give the police $16.3 million less in 2021 than previously approved by freezing the annual funding at the 2020 amount of $372.5 million.
The police budget makes up about 14.9 per cent of the city’s $3-billion operating budget and increases annually under a formula taking inflation and growth into account.
Black Lives Matter Edmonton (BLM) is calling on council to freeze increases to the police budget indefinitely and repeal the increases for 2019-22. The group did not respond to a request for comment from Postmedia as of press time Wednesday in response to the council meeting.
Mcfee defended the current level of funding for the service in relation to the workload and said divesting the additional $75 million police received in the current budget cycle would require 500 officers to be laid off as 82 per cent of expenses are salaries.
“Defunding, what does that even mean? I would strenuously argue this actually starts with a question that all police leaders should be living by. Success is working your way out of a job because you’re no longer needed, because your community is safe and everybody lives happily ever after. We all know that this isn’t the case in Edmonton,” Mcfee said in responding to the BLM petition to repeal the funding increases that has received over 10,400 submissions of the form letter.
Citing calls for service statistics, Mcfee said officers are dispatched every three minutes to respond to residents, including 1,765 mental health act calls so far this year.
The increased criticism of policing comes in response to the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed in Minneapolis during an arrest.
“Most of our communities have stated that they would like more visibility. People in the business community continue to ask for increased presence,” Mcfee said. “Now due to an event that happened and sparked in Minneapolis thousands of miles away, we have members of the public screaming at us and telling us how much they hate us.”
About 15,000 residents attended a rally Friday organized by community group A Fight for Equity. Founder Tiera Williams said Wednesday’s council meeting was a good starting point, but didn’t immediately address the issues of carding, use of force and defunding.
“We hope this is the first meeting of many to move towards putting change into action. We look forward to having meetings with the city council and the Edmonton police to share our demands,” Williams said in a statement.
Residents will get a chance to address council during a public hearing on the proposals as early as next Monday, but the date hasn’t been confirmed. Iveson said he is hopeful these discussions can happen in person and is asking the city if an off-site option is available.
Other asks on the table include having Iveson write a letter to the province’s Justice Minister and Solicitor General Doug Schweitzer to ask for an independent review program to handle all public complaints about police conduct as well as a letter to the police commission for more details on dash and body cameras for police.
On Monday, Schweitzer promised to expedite a review of the Police Act.
NDP Opposition Leader Rachel Notley called on the premier Wednesday to establish a panel to hold public meetings over the summer on how to change policing to keep marginalized communities from systemic discrimination.
“Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done. This is a significant moment and we won’t find meaningful answers behind closed doors,” she said during question period.
Her proposed panel would include representatives from the government’s anti-racism advisory council, Indigenous leaders and Black Lives Matter activists. Following the public hearings the panel would make recommendations in the fall.
Kenney did not respond to Notley’s call. Instead Schweitzer replied that the government was working on its “engagement strategy” and “making sure we hear the voices of those that came out to have their voices heard at protests across this province.”
Most of our communities have stated that they would like more visibility. People in the business community continue to ask for increased presence