Instead of a bigger police budget, Toronto community groups demand spending on shelters, transit, services

As Toronto police ask for a $20 million budget increase this year, a number of community advocacy groups have joined forces to demand the city spend that money elsewhere.

The Care Not Cops coalition will gather at city hall Tuesday morning, days ahead of Mayor Olivia Chow's draft budget for the upcoming fiscal year, to pressure councillors to put the extra money police have requested into social safety nets, city services and infrastructure.

"We really want to push the city to put resources towards those things that are actually going to help the communities," said Lorraine Lam, an organizer with the Shelter and Housing Justice Network, one of nine groups that make up "care not cops."

Other groups include the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition, TTC Riders, Policing-Free Schools and Jane-Finch Action Against Poverty. Their demands range from investment in the Scarborough busway to creating 24/7 warming centres and expanding the shelter system.

A variety of speakers will address those issues at city hall this morning.

Lam says a stronger social safety net and better city services is what Toronto needs to be safer — not more police spending.

"We live at a time when our cities, social infrastructure, and even physical infrastructure is crumbling," Lam said. "So it's pretty clear that we need money from the city to pour into those services so that people are well and thriving."

The Toronto Police Service says a 1.7 per cent budget increase is necessary for staffing numbers, better emergency response times and to ensure adequate service that will keep the city safe as the population grows.

Like the advocacy coalition, TPS is mounting its own campaign to sell its argument to politicians and the public. Using the hashtag #SupportYourTPS, police have used official news releases and official social media accounts to argue that anything less than what they've asked for will amount to a cut in service.

Their request for an additional $20 million to the overall police budget of nearly $1.2 billion has been approved by the TPS board and recommended to the mayor by the city's budget committee.

But the mayor and council will ultimately decide the budget for the new year, and city staff are recommending an increase of $7.4 million — $12.6 million less than what police say they need.  

Care not Cops has its own detailed list of demands, including a freeze on any increase to the police budget. In addition to 24/7 warming centres and the expansion of the city's shelter system, the group wants more accountability for how TPS spends its money and a multi-million dollar divestment to be redirected to the Toronto Community Crisis Service.

The coalition says giving more money to the police doesn't make the city safer, and points to research that backs up that claim.

A recent University of Toronto-led study found no consistent relation between police funding and crime rates across 20 Canadian municipalities, including Hamilton and Toronto. Lead author Mélanie Seabrook said the key takeaway for legislators is to give community needs and priorities more consideration when setting budgets.