Halifax councillors hear concerns, plans regarding community safety, policing budgets

The price of public safety was a topic of discussion at a Halifax budget meeting on Wednesday.

An always-controversial discussion took place Wednesday as part of the Halifax Regional Municipality’s budget discussions, with public safety top of mind.

That includes asks from community safety officials, Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency, Halifax Regional Police (HRP) and RCMP.

HRP is looking for a 3.3 per cent increase – or about $3,240,000 – bringing their proposed budget to $101,255,700.

As has been the case for years, it’s a contentious subject for some community advocates.

“Imagine if we could streamline the process of de-tasking, by flooding underfunded social services with millions of dollars that the police are requesting, so that they could have appropriate resources to mitigate these crimes before they happen, or respond in better ways,” said Lou Campbell, a resident of District 8 who spoke to councillors.

Most of HRP’s costs are salaries and benefits, and equipment, including body-worn cameras.

There is no ask for more officers, but the proposal includes seven new civilian positions, including two victim services case workers assigned to domestic violence.

“There are some things around de-tasking that I think, from a police perspective, that we’ve agreed with over time,” said HRP Chief Don MacLean in an interview with CTV News. “The community safety budget will come forward that will outline some of those things. But obviously there are also some things that I don’t agree with.”

A new armoured vehicle was also a key point of concern for several community members.

“I explicitly understand what an armoured vehicle is,” said community advocate Kay MacDonald. “What has been unclear is why we would have them, what would they be used for and how could they be supportive in the past.

“Does more money funnelled into policing make a safer city? What do you believe the future of the city looks like with underfunded municipal services and overfunded policing?”

The RCMP is looking for 14 new officers in the Halifax area this year.

Police brass says the complexities of policing are growing with the population.

Halifax Regional RCMP responded to a historical high of more than 60,000 calls for service in 2024.

According to budget documents, HRP responds to roughly 100,000 calls per year.

For the Retail Council of Canada, theft continues to be a reason to sound the alarm, despite a concern over many businesses not even reporting the crime.

“We have prosecutors telling us (to) ‘stop sending us shoplifters because the system is backlogged.’ And then, of course, they’re saying the judges are just going to release them anyway,” said Jim Cormier, the Atlantic region’s director of government relations.

Ron Jeppesen, president of the Eastern Shore Ground Search and Rescue Association, said their teams can help address some policing issues, but chronic underfunding makes even the status quo challenging.

“We don’t want to have to sort of shrink what we do or not respond to calls because we’re not operationally ready or we don’t have the right training,” Jeppesen told reporters.

The union representing Halifax Fire – and its almost $98,000,000 proposal – says the municipality needs to support cancer screening, referencing the loss of Billy Marr last April due to cancer.

“The way we’re proposing this would be that we start to screen at 10 years,” said Brendan Meagher, president of the Halifax Professional Fire Fighters Association.

“So for career firefighters, there are roughly 300 in Halifax with over 10 years (experience) and roughly 150 volunteers.”

Budget discussions will continue on Friday.

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