Hamilton police board asks for review of proposed spending cuts that it has no plans to make

Hamilton's police board is waiting on the police service to review recently proposed ways it can trim spending — despite the fact most board members also said they don't support the cuts.

In March, the board voted 5-1 to have the police service report back in the year's third quarter on cost-saving measures initially pitched by board members Dr. Anjali Menezes and Coun. Cameron Kroetsch.

Many of the same measures were brought up earlier this year during budget deliberations but were shot down by board members. The $214.8 million police budget ended up passing.

Despite that, Menezes pushed for the review during the March board meeting because of public feedback to try and find more savings.

"Whether or not you agree with what could come out of the following discussions after a report like this, I still think it is part of our duty to have a report on this," she said. "It's about how we are intended to represent our community."

Those proposed changes include:

• Disbanding units that aren't mandated by legislation or recommended by provincial inquests, such as the mounted unit and sworn staff allocated to recruitment, and reallocating their staff.
• Merging some police departments with the city, including communications, legislative support, legal, accounting, information technology, and human resources.
• Increasing the ratio of staff to management from about 11:1 "to be in line with other city emergency services like the Hamilton Fire Department" at 66:1 and the Hamilton Paramedic Service at 50:1 (They are proposing eliminating management positions as people retire).
• Changing its reserve financial strategy to be in line with the city's reserve strategy.

Board members said they were OK with a review, despite some concerns about how much time and effort it would take the service to do.

They also said they did not support the proposed cuts.

Esther Pauls, a board member and councillor, said she initially wouldn't support the review but changed her mind.

"Maybe it will look good, the people think we're doing something to see where we can find some savings," she said.

Mayor Andrea Horwath, another board member, said she was supporting the review because it could serve as an "educational opportunity" for the public.

"Not because I necessarily think any one of those [suggestions] might be the right thing to do," she said.

Horwath added the review could show how the police service's budget process may be more transparent than the city's own budget process.

Makeup of police board has changed since meeting

Pat Mandy, chair of the board at the time, supported the motion, echoing Horwath's comments that it could be educational. Mandy is no longer on the board because her term ended.

The province appointed Don Robertson to replace Mandy, but Robertson, whose term began April 1, has yet to attend a meeting and weigh in on issues like the service's budget.

Fred Bennink, vice chair at the time, was the only member who voted against the review of the proposed budget cuts, saying staff shouldn't take much time to review ways "to disarm or defund the police service."

Bennink's term ends on May 2, and it's unclear who the province will appoint to replace him.

Kroetsch wasn't at the March meeting because he's facing an investigation after some of his fellow board members made a complaint against him, alleging he violated the Police Services Act's code of conduct (which has since been replaced by the Community Safety and Policing Act) when he made comments on social media critical of the police.

He previously called the complaint "procedurally unfair, an abuse of process, biased, and personally motivated."