Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer says the $1.1-million budget his department has for policing protests is “woefully inadequate” and wants city council to make sure that at least another $1.4 million is allotted in 2025 to cover costs.
The department was forced last year to go to council to cover $3.6 million in overtime costs, largely related to deploying officers to protests and escorting city crews on the cleanup of East Hastings Street.
“I'll be quite frank, if that money is not put into our budget, I'm still going to spend it anyways because I'm not going to compromise public safety in our city for people that are going to be subjected to violent and ongoing protests,” Palmer told the Vancouver Police Board Nov. 21.
The chief said the current budget for protests is $1.1 million. The $1.4-million request — to make the overall protest budget $3.5 million — was based on analysis by the department’s finance team and the VPD’s expert in emergency and operational planning.
“It could be significantly higher,” said Palmer, noting protests were once in the 500 to 600 per year range, but have surpassed 1,000 in recent years.
The department's protest costs are projected to be close to $4 million by year's end.
Israel-Hamas war
The Israel-Hamas war, the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and other tensions in the world are responsible for the increase, he said, adding that police have no indication the number of protests will decrease.
“Those demonstrations are not stopping, and they are high-risk incidents that are happening,” Palmer said. “There are areas where the public is at risk, there are areas where our officers are being assaulted.”
Added the chief: “Many of them go off without a hitch, but many of them have led to confrontations and violence and significant disruptions in our city, and we need a proper budget to fund those protests and demonstrations.”
Vancouver police budget statistics previously supplied to Glacier Media show a steady increase in recent years in money spent to manage protests and demonstrations, with $478,460 in 2018, $1,033,297 in 2019 and $2,835,584 in 2020.
The police board approved Nov. 21 a provisional VPD operating budget for 2025 of $434 million, which is roughly $13 million more than the city’s finance staff requested. It will now be up to council to decide at its budget meetings in December whether it will approve the $434-million request.
Jason Murray, the chair of the police board’s finance committee, explained to Glacier Media after the Nov. 21 meeting why the $434-million request was unanimously approved by the board.
“The finance committee met several times over the past couple of months with the chief’s team,” Murray said. “We put them through their paces. They were long meetings, there were pointed questions, there were good answers, and we were satisfied as a committee that what the department was putting forward is justifiable.”
The VPD has also requested council fund a permanent program for body worn cameras. The first-year cost would be $6.5 million, then $5.11 million in 2026 and $5.26 million in 2027.
$11.2M 'overage'
A staff report going before city council Dec. 3 says the VPD is forecasting “overages” of $11.2 million this year, mainly related to overtime incurred for protests and demonstrations, bylaw enforcement for encampments, deployment for entertainment districts and statutory holiday pay.
“While the department has vacancy savings due to delayed hiring and above budget cost recoveries, there are also higher than budgeted costs incurred for replacement of equipment and issuance of safety body armour, increased costs for security of Tactical Training Centre and legal fees for ongoing files,” the report said.
Meanwhile, Vancouver Fire Rescue Services is forecasting a deficit of $5.1 million, primarily due to overtime required to maintain minimum staffing levels, which is impacted by higher than budgeted levels of vacancies and staff absences.
“There are also higher than budgeted costs incurred for supplies and materials due to compliance with higher safety standards, increased cost for uniforms, fleet maintenance and fuel costs,” said the report, which recommends council cover the combined $16.3 million for both departments.
That report, along with overall draft operating and capital budgets for the city, will go before council Dec. 3. Mayor Ken Sim and councillors are expected to finalize the city’s budgets Dec. 10 and set a property tax increase.
It’s unclear whether OneCity Coun. Christine Boyle, who has been a critic of police budgets, will participate in deliberations; she has been absent at council meetings since being elected in October as the NDP MLA for Vancouver-Little Mountain.
Boyle has yet to formally resign.
