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  1. On May 15, 2012, there were 69,539 police officers in Canada, 115 more officers than in 2011. Expressed as a rate, police strength declined slightly (-1.0%) from the previous year, to 199 officers per 100,000 population.
  2. Despite small declines in recent years, police strength in Canada has generally been increasing over the past decade, up 7% since 2002. Over the same period, both the volume and severity of police reported crime have continued to decline.
  3. Manitoba replaced Saskatchewan in 2012 as the province with the most officers per 100,000 population (214 and 213 officers per 100,000 population, respectively). Prince Edward Island (169) and Alberta (175) reported the fewest officers per 100,000 population.
  4. The highest rates of police strength in 2012 were reported in the census metropolitan areas of Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Regina and Saint John. The lowest were reported in Moncton and Kelowna.
  5. The majority of police officers (65%) who left their police service in 2011 did so to take their retirement. About 1,300 police officers retired in 2011, accounting for 2% of all officers. That year, one in ten officers in Canada were eligible to retire.
  6. Of new police officers hired by police services in 2011, about four in five were new recruits, with the remainder hired from another police service.
  7. The trend towards more women in policing continued in 2012. For the second year in a row the number of female officers increased, while the number of male officers declined. Females now account for 20% of all police officers, compared to 15% in 2002.
  8. Expenditures on policing totalled $12.9 billion in 2011. Controlling for inflation, this marks a decrease of 0.7% from the previous year, the first decline in spending since 1996.
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