Montreal, December 14, 2022 – As the city of Montreal debates budget priorities for 2023, concerns have been raised about the proposed $63 million increase to the budget of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), as well as the $50 million the SPVM overspent its 2022 budget. A new report, however, reveals a longer history of police overfunding and overspending in Montreal and compares these patterns to other large Canadian cities.
The report can be downloaded at this link: https://bit.ly/3UWVPEz
The report was conducted by Concordia University professor, Ted Rutland. It examines Canadian police spending over the last five years, focusing on the ten largest urban police forces. Comparing Montreal to other cities, the report finds that:
– Montreal has increased police funding more than any other large city in Canada since the 2020 protests that brought greater attention to police spending.
– The Montreal police (SPVM) consistently disregards its allotted budget, overspending by an average of $30 million per year – $27 million more than the second worst overspender.
– The Montreal police also overshoots its budgeted overtime hours – more than doubling the second worst overspender – but this is not the only reason for SPVM overspending.
“The situation in Montreal is more and more of an anomaly in Canada,” says Rutland. “No city has given as much money to the police since 2020 and no city allows its police force to massively overspend its allocated budget to the extent that Montreal does.”
Sandra Wesley, the director of Stella and a spokesperson for the Defund the Police Coalition highlights the social costs of police overfunding. “Repression does not solve poverty, does not solve health issues, does not give our youth hope for the future and does not reduce violence. A large portion of the SPVM’s budget is spent on profiling, invading people’s lives without need or consent and harassing people for being poor. We cannot afford that kind of spending when Montrealers’ basic needs are not being met.”
The report concludes by looking at some of the ways that other cities, while continuing to increase police funding by modest amounts, have found ways to redirect public money to programs and initiatives that reduce the need for police work and provide more effective ways of providing public safety.
