Data quality, concepts and methodology: Methodology
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Survey definitions and coverage
This report is based upon data collected through the Police Administration Survey conducted by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics. This survey collects data on police personnel and expenditures from each municipal, provincial and federal (RCMP) police service in Canada. First Nations police personnel and expenditures falling under the jurisdiction of the RCMP are reported under RCMP federal policing.
The following federal policing and security agencies are excluded from the survey: the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, railway and military police. Federal and provincial government departments deploying personnel to enforce specific statutes in the areas of income tax, customs and excise, immigration, fisheries and wildlife are also excluded. As well, private security guards and private investigators are not included in this survey.
Data presented in this report represent police personnel as of May 15, 2012 and final expenditures for the year 2011 (or 2011/2012 for those services operating on a fiscal year). Most municipal police services operate on a calendar year while the provincial services and the RCMP operate on a fiscal year. Policing expenditures are referred to as calendar year (i.e., 2011) throughout this report.
Personnel counts are based on permanent, full-time equivalents; part-time employees are converted to full-time equivalents (e.g., 4 employees working 10 hours per week would equal 1 full-time employee working a 40-hour week). Police officers include the actual number of sworn police officers available for active duty as of May 15, 2012. Other employees include all other non-police personnel (civilians and special constables) (e.g., clerical, dispatch, management, cadets, special constables, security officers, school crossing guards, by-law enforcement officers).
Counts for temporary officers are not included in any of the police officer counts, as only permanent, full-time officers (and full-time equivalents) are included. Temporary police officers are hired to fill in, as needed, for permanent police officers. The province of Quebec employs more temporary police officers than any other jurisdiction. Of the 1,004 temporary officers reported in 2012, 895 or 89% were employed in Quebec.
Police expenditures are actual operating expenditures and include: salaries and wages, benefits, and other operating expenses such as accommodation costs, fuel, maintenance, etc. Capital expenditures, funding from external sources, revenues and recoveries are not included.
Data from the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey are also included in this report to provide appropriate caseload context for the police in terms of the volume of criminal incidents coming to their attention. The UCR Survey collects police-reported crime and traffic offences reported by all police services in Canada, dating back to 1962, and is the basis for crime rate, Crime Severity Index and clearance rate information.
Major survey revisions
1986 revision
The Police Administration Survey was revised in 1986 to collect police department expenditures (beginning in 1985) as well as more detailed information on police personnel and functions. As both the old and revised surveys were run simultaneously in 1986, it was possible to examine the effects of the revised survey. An analysis of the data revealed that there were some minor differences in the distribution of police personnel between the two surveys. In order to correct for these methodological differences, the data presented in Table 1 prior to 1986 have been adjusted at the national level.
1996 revision
In 1996, changes were made to the effective date for collecting personnel strength, moving from September 30 to June 15. School crossing guards were added to the survey in 1996 as their numbers warranted a separate category. Prior to 1996, they were captured under the "other" category. Adjustments were made to civilian personnel to account for this change, back to 1986.
Also, expenses associated with the purchasing and leasing of vehicles were now to be included only if they were part of the operational budget of the police service. Prior to 1995, all expenses related to the purchase and lease of vehicles were included, regardless of the type of budget. Benefits were expanded to include those paid by other government sources. The removal of expenses due to the capital purchases of vehicles and the addition of expenses due to the inclusion of benefits paid by other government sources were examined in detail. It was estimated that these revisions accounted for an overall change of less than 1% in reported expenses.
2006 revision
In 2006, changes were made to the effective date for collecting personnel strength, moving from June 15 to May 15. This date change should not have any impact on the continuity of 2006 data with previous years.
2012 revision
In 2012, the Police Administration Survey Program included the Supplemental survey for the first time. After consultations with the Canadian policing community, the Supplemental survey questionnaire was designed to capture detailed information on human resources and staffing among police services. Aggregate information on hirings, departures, eligibility to retire, years of service, age, education, visible minority status and language was collected.
The majority of the information collected through the Supplemental Police Administration Survey questionnaire is based on the familiar May 15 survey snapshot day. Other data, such as those on annual hirings, departures and eligibility to retire, is collected based on the previous calendar year or fiscal year.
Some police services are unable to provide one or more of the data elements asked for on the Supplemental Police Administration Survey questionnaire. In these cases, the police services are excluded from related percent calculations and a note explaining coverage for the data element is included in the text or table.
Municipal police service data tables
Summary information on Canada’s municipal police services is presented in this report. Municipal policing includes all police services that are paid for by municipalities including contract policing provided to municipalities by provincial police services and the RCMP. It also includes self-administered First Nations police services. It should be noted that offences investigated by federal RCMP personnel within a municipal policing jurisdiction are included in the crime statistics for that municipal police service; however, personnel and expenditures associated with the federal RCMP are not included.
Within each province, municipal police services are grouped into population ranges and the municipalities within each group are listed alphabetically. Within these groupings, municipalities that are policed by the RCMP or OPP under municipal contracts are separated from the other municipal police services.
Table 12 includes only personnel from municipal police services that existed on May 15, 2012. Municipal police services that ceased to exist and/or were amalgamated by other new police services on or before May 15, 2012 are not included. Crime data for 2012 are not yet available; therefore data presented in Table 12 of the report are for the year 2011.
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