Table 1
Trends in police personnel and expenditures, Canada, 1962 to 2011

Represents the actual number of permanent, fully-sworn police officers of all ranks (or their full-time equivalents). This number also includes officers who are deployed to contract positions and who are not available for general policing duties in their community. Police officers on long-term leave who are not being paid by the police service's annual budget are excluded.

Counts include civilian and other personnel (e.g., clerical, dispatch, management, cadets, special constables, security officers, school crossing guards, by-law enforcement officers) on the police department's payroll as of May 15.

Total operating expenditures include salaries, wages, benefits, and other operating expenses that are paid from the police service budget, as well as benefits paid from other government sources. Revenues, recoveries, and those costs that fall under a police service's capital expenditures are excluded.

Data extracted from the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics. Excludes Criminal Code traffic incidents.

Criminal incidents can either be cleared by charge or cleared otherwise (for example, through extrajudicial means in instances where a charge could otherwise be laid). The weighted clearance rate is based on the same principle used to create the police-reported Crime Severity Index, whereby more serious offences are assigned a higher weight than less serious offences. Applying this concept to clearance rates means that, for example, the clearance of a homicide, robbery or break and enter receives a higher weight than the clearance of less serious offences such as minor theft, mischief and disturbing the peace.