More money for cops!

Toronto mayor Rob Ford has demanded a 10-per-cent cut from every city department.
Chief Bill Blair insists that public safety depends on a budget increase.

Hamilton has 792 officers for a population of 504,559 = 157 officers / 100,000 people.
Toronto has 223 officers / 100,000 people.

Hamilton's budget of $130,752,220 works
out to $259 per citizen.
Toronto's pays $381 per citizen.

According to Statistics Canada, police spending
in Canada increases by an average 7 per cent a year.

While Canadian police budgets have increased, the crime rate has plummeted to its lowest levels since the mid-1970s, and officers deal with one-third fewer offences than they did in 1991.


Read more in the Globe and Mail.

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