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Thursday, December 15, 2005 Police personnel and expenditures2005Police strength in Canada, as measured by the number of police officers for every 100,000 population, reached its highest level in more than a decade this year, according to a new report. However, the rate was still well below those in other industrialized nations. As of June 15, 2005, Canada had more than 61,000 police officers, a gain of about 1,200 from the previous year. This year's rate of 189 officers per 100,000 population was up slightly from 2004, and has been slowly increasing since 1998. But Canada's rate is still well below that in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, where police strength ranged from 242 to 262 officers per 100,000 population. Each police officer in Canada handled an average of 43 Criminal Code incidents in 2004, 16% lower than the peak of 51 in 1991. However, the 2004 figure was about 30% higher than in the mid-1970s, when there were around 33 incidents per officer. For the fifth year in a row, Saskatchewan had the highest rate for police strength in Canada, at 202 police officers per 100,000 population. It was followed by Quebec and Manitoba. The lowest rates were reported in Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. During the past decade, only Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia have recorded notable increases in police strength. All other provinces have remained relatively stable. Among census metropolitan areas, Thunder Bay reported the most officers per 100,000 population, followed by Regina, Montréal and Winnipeg. The lowest rates were in Saguenay, Kingston, Québec, Sherbrooke and Ottawa. Women accounted for most of the increase in the number of officers in 2005. Canada had nearly 10,600 female officers in 2005, a gain of 7% from the previous year. By comparison, the number of male officers rose only 1%. Women now account for 17% of police officers in Canada, compared with 10% a decade ago. British Columbia and Quebec reported the highest proportion of female officers, while Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick reported the lowest. In 2004, spending on policing totalled more than $8.8 billion, an average of $276 per person. This was a 4% increase over 2003 after adjusting for inflation and the eighth consecutive increase in policing costs in constant dollars.
Available on CANSIM: tables 254-0002 and 254-0003. Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3301. The report Police Resources in Canada, 2005 (85-225-XIE, $28) is now available. For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Information and Client Services (1-800-387-2231; 613-951-9023), Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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