London police seek biggest budget increase in its history

London Police Service vehicle. (Source: London police)

The London Police Service is seeking a massive budget increase in the coming years to completely transform law enforcement in the city.

The chief offering a blunt assessment that underspending in past years has lead to Londoners feeling unsafe, as he submitted the new budget request to city council Monday night.

“The community tell us that when they call 911, they do not know if we're going to show up... or what time, what hour, what day we're going to show up. The concerns from our members are the same,” said Chief Thai Truong.

The ask? $147-million for 2024, that's an 11.6 per cent increase.

London Police Service's total request for the four-year municipal budget is nearly $640 million, a 30 per cent increase by 2027.

This request does not include the financial impacts of labour negotiations between the board and the London Police Association union.

The Chief made his case based on recent crime severity data, showing London is the third most dangerous city, among the biggest 12 cities in Ontario.

It’s also the second least staffed police service per capita for single tier municipalities in Ontario, only behind Ottawa.

The significant cost driver of the big budget request is the hiring of 189 more positions; 97 sworn police officers and 92 civilian workers.

But even if this budget gets approved Truong says boots won’t be on the ground for at least nine months — roughly the amount of time it takes to on-board new officers.

“We've been understaffed for many years. We're understaffed compared to other cities and municipalities of our size. The state of the city that we're in right now with respect to crime is at an all-time high and we're not able to make the community safe and the citizens feel safe," Truong told CTV News.

Mayor Josh Morgan thinks this budget is going to be a tough ask.

“I think the entire budget is going to be a difficult conversation,” he said. “We know that there is significant upward pressure just to keep the current services running across the municipality and the boards and commissions, and council has significant investments it needs to make in the high priorities of Londoners — which means there's going to be a lot of discussion about opportunity cost. What can we do? What can't we do?" Morgan continued.

One thing unanimously agreed upon at the meeting is that Londoners deserve to feel safe. Many councillors said their constituents often stop them to talk about the crime in the city, asking for better service — but some may not like this price tag.

It would be the biggest increase in the history of the London Police Service. More than half a billion dollars over four years. For those who aren’t comfortable with the amount, Truong had a strong message.

“Every dollar that we’re investing in this police service is an investment in our members so that we can invest back into the community and make the community safe. There isn’t a dollar value on children, there isn’t a dollar value on victims of crime and people living in this city,” he said.

Morgan says if this goes through, he wants Londoners to see measurable results.

“We need to know that it’s working,” Morgan explained. “They need to see crime severity go down, they need to see wait times go down, they need to feel safer in the city.”

The proposal requires council approval during multi- year budget deliberations early in the New Year.

Council will consider the police budget among asks from other agencies during budget deliberations in February.