Will more police officers make London safer?

“Our citizens do not feel safe today,” Councillor Steve Lehman told a council committee on Tuesday.

Lehman was arguing in favour of a funding request by London, Ont. police to hire 20 additional police officers and four full-time civilian staff in 2023.

At a cost just under $4 million this year ($3.41M new positions/$550K equipment/vehicles), it would be funded from assessment growth, tax revenue on new construction that does not impact property tax bills.

London has 145 officers for every 100,000 citizens— the average ratio in Ontario is 181 per 100,000.

Lehman urged that the chronic understaffing must be addressed.

“We see it daily with burnout. We can’t hire. We are having trouble finding officers to apply for a job that used to be highly in demand,” said Lehman.

According to the London Police Service (LPS), the provincial property crime rate is 2,349/100,000, while London's rate is 4,346/100,000 — almost 86 per cent higher.

However, Councillor Skylar Franke questioned the logic of hiring more officers.

“I’d like to see the data that says more police officers means more safety. And safety for whom?” Franke asked.

Top brass at LPS did not attend the meeting, so Franke’s questions about the number of crimes rooted in mental health and homelessness went unanswered.

She argued that many of those crimes would be more appropriately responded to by nurses and social workers.

Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis replied that the additional officers are related to the rapid population growth in the city.

“If we took all of those mental health calls and all of those homelessness calls off the police docket tomorrow, we would still need these officers,” said Lewis.

This year’s funding request is the first step in a three-year plan endorsed by the London Police Services Board to hire 52 additional officers.

Police say the hirings will allow the gradual reconstitution of the COR Unit that focusses on crime prevention, and will speed up response times.

Seeking consensus, Mayor Josh Morgan expressed hope that London can tackle the root causes of crime and maintain adequate policing levels.

“We do both of these things and the results are we curtail the pace of needed investments in police down the road— but that day is not today,” Morgan said.

The council committee voted 13-1, Franke opposed, to accept the report on Assessment Growth allocations including the additional funding for LPS.

Franke intends to contact LPS leadership prior to the Council meeting on March 7.

“I do think we are being downloaded some healthcare costs and we are responding to those healthcare costs with police officers,” noted Franke.