Per-capita policing is meaningless in Victoria

Re: “Victoria police closer to adding six officers, ” Jan. 9.

It’s astounding that Victoria Coun. Ben Isitt is once again speaking out against a policing issue that he clearly knows nothing about. He states that: “Victoria is already the most heavily policed city in the country on a per-capita basis.”

Maybe someone could show Isitt a map and point out that Victoria is the core city of the 13 municipalities and as such “per capita” has nothing to do with the current need for police resources. Considering that Victoria attracts thousands of people daily from the neighbouring and outlying municipalities, as well as the tourists who flow in and out of Victoria every year, an increase of six officers and the first budget increase in eight years is hardly out of line.

The $528,000 budget increase for VicPD to maintain the level of public safety and service expected by our citizens is lower than the cost of one-fifth of a kilometre of the new bike highways. I agree that homelessness, mental health and addictions issues are constant and increasing issues, but there are no new resources in place to deal with these at the moment and it will always fall to the police to respond to these issues in the first instance in any case.

Perhaps these councillors should spend some time on the front line with the officers who work 24/7 to keep them and their families safe. Policing the city of Victoria has lots of challenges. Support from city council shouldn’t be one of them. Rick Anthony Victoria

A Victoria police officer conducts a road check on Yates Street. A letter-writer suggests that Victoria needs more police officers than its population would normally require because it is a core municipality in a much larger region.