Police resources in Canada, 2014: highlights
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- On the snapshot date of May 15, 2014, there were 68,896 police officers in Canada, 354 fewer than in 2013. This represented a rate of police strength of 194 police officers per 100,000 population, a decrease of 1.6% from the previous year. After remaining stable in 2011, the rate of police strength has decreased each year since.
- Among the provinces, Manitoba continued to have the highest rate in police strength, at 206 officers per 100,000 population in 2014, while Prince Edward Island again reported the lowest rate, with 161 officers per 100,000 population.
- Among the census metropolitan areas, Winnipeg (191), followed by Thunder Bay (187) and Montreal (186), had the highest rate of police strength in 2014. The lowest was reported in Saguenay (106).
- The increased presence of women in policing continued in 2014. The number of female officers grew slightly (+1.3%), while the number of male officers declined somewhat (-1.0%). Females accounted for 20.6% of all police officers that year, compared to 16.5% a decade earlier.
- Of officers hired by police services during the calendar or fiscal year of 2013, over 7 in 10 (73%) were recruit graduates, with the remainder being experienced police officers.
- In the calendar or fiscal year of 2013, 11% of police officers were eligible for retirement, but only 2% of police officers actually retired. Retirements were the most common reason officers left a police service (68%).
- Police services employed 28,409 civilians on the 2014 snapshot day, representing 29% of total personnel. The ratio of officers to civilians has been declining since data was first collected in 1962. A decade ago, there were 2.7 officers employed for every civilian, compared to 2.4 in 2014.
- Expenditures on policing totalled $13.6 billion in the calendar or fiscal year of 2013. Controlling for inflation, this marks a decrease of 0.6% from the previous year. While constant dollar spending on policing services increased from the late 1990s through to 2010, it has been more variable in the past few years, decreasing in 2011 and increasing in 2012.
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