Vancouver police seek to increase 2025 budget to $434M

The Vancouver Police Departmentis asking for an additional $23 million in funding for next year, bringing the VPD'stotal budget to $434 million.

Thebudget proposal was passed by the Vancouver Police Board on Thursday andwill go in front of city council later this monthfor approval.

Addressing the police board,VPD Chief Adam Palmer called the 5.56 per cent increase"extremely reasonable."

"We have done a scan across the entire country and we've looked at 18 different agencies in Canada, including our own, and we're in the bottom two or three of all agencies across Canada for budget increases for 2025," said Palmer.

The board rejected a less costly budget optionof $421 million$13 million less that was supported by city staff.

Palmer called the city staff recommendation a "keep the lights on" budget that was not adequate to meet the financial needs of the VPD.

Green Coun.Pete Fry said if the ABC-majority council votes to accept the police budget, it could jeopardize Mayor Ken Sim's promise to cap the 2025 property tax increase at5.5 per cent.

"There's $13 million that's unaccounted for ... and certainly this new increase is more than what staff has been budgeting for. So it'sgoing to come to a head,"said Fry. "It will be challenging to meet that 5.5 per cent, that's for sure."

Included in the 2025 budget proposal is $6.6 million to launch a permanent body-worn camera program for frontlineVPD officers. The planwould see 812 officers personally assigned a body-worn camera next year, with another 169cameras put in a pool for use by members who are called out.

The board agreed that itsfinance committee will investigatephasing in the body-worn cameraprogram across a longer timeline.

The VPD is expected toend this year $9 million over budget, according to a separate report to the board.

Overruns were attributed to many factors, including higher overtime costs from protests related to the Israel-Hamas war, planning costs for the 2026 FIFA World Cup,and officers assisting in a city-ledremoval ofa tent encampment from Hastings Street.

Crime in Vancouver continues to trend lower in 2024 compared to last year across all four Vancouver patrol districts, according to a VPD report to the board. The Public Safety Indicators Report for the third quarter of 2024said violent crime wasdown 6.8 per cent from the same time period last year, and property crime was down 13.6 per cent with a 24.2 per cent decrease in break-and-enters.