Police resources in Canada, 2017

Start of text box

End of text box

The roles and responsibilities of police services has changed over time, creating new challenges in areas such as crime prevention, law enforcement, public assistance, maintenance of public order and responding to emergencies. As such, police, policy‑makers and the public require information to monitor and make information‑based decisions regarding the administration of policing.

Using data from the Police Administration Survey, this Juristat article provides the most recent findings on the rate of police strength; police officers by rank, sex and age; police officer hirings and departures; civilian employees; and, police operating expenditures. Data are presented at the national, provincial and territorial, and municipal levels. This article also includes information from the 2016 Census of Population on the Aboriginal and visible minority status of police officers in Canada.

To provide a more complete picture of policing in Canada, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics has developed a revised Police Administration Survey that will collect new information to better understand the cost‑drivers and changing human resource structures within police services. This new survey will begin collecting data in April 2018.

The rate of police strength down slightly from 2016

On May 15, 2017, there were 69,027 police officers in Canada, up by 168 officers from the previous year (Table 1). This represents a rate of police strength of 188 officers per 100,000 population^Note  and a decline of 1% from the previous year (Chart 1).^Note  The rate of police strength in 2017 also marks the sixth^Note  consecutive year of decline and the lowest rate since 2004 (187). The total number of police officers and rate of police strength includes federal, provincial, territorial, municipal and First Nations police services.

The provincial and territorial rate of police strength, which excludes the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) headquarters and Training Academy, was 185 officers per 100,000 population in 2017. Among Canada's provinces, the rate of police strength in 2017 ranged from the lowest rate of 146 officers per 100,000 population in Prince Edward Island, to the highest rate of 201 officers per 100,000 population in Saskatchewan (Chart 2). For these two provinces, these ranking were similar to previous years. The rate of police strength in Nova Scotia (192), Quebec (189), Manitoba (192), Saskatchewan (201) and British Columbia (186) were higher than the provincial and territorial rate (Table 2). All three territories were higher than the provincial and territorial rate with Northwest Territories having the highest rate of police strength of 411 per 100,000 population.

Across the country in 2017, there were 50 stand‑alone municipal police services or municipalities policed by the RCMP that have a population greater than 100,000.^Note  Among these services, eight saw increases in their rates of police strength from the preceding year, 31 saw decreases in strength, while 11 reported no notable change from 2016 to 2017. The largest increases in the rates of police strength were seen in the municipalities of Delta, British Columbia (+7%), Red Deer, Alberta (+4%), and London, Ontario (+3%). The municipalities of Codiac Region, New Brunswick (-10%), Abbotsford, British Columbia (-6%) and Toronto, Ontario (-5%) reported the largest decrease in rate of police strength (Table 3).

Among these 50 police services, the 10 with the highest rates of police strength were Victoria (233 per 100,000 population), Montréal (228), Halifax (223),^Note  Thunder Bay (197), Vancouver (196), Windsor (193), Winnipeg (192), Edmonton (183), Toronto (180), and Regina (178) (Table 3). Of these 10 police services, only Toronto and Regina reported rates of police officer strength that fell below their provincial rate of police strength.

For the third consecutive year, the lowest rates of police strength were observed in British Columbia's municipality of Richmond (98 per 100,000 population), and in Richelieu Saint‑Laurent (103 per 100,000 population) and Lévis (107 per 100,000 population) both of which are located in Quebec (Table 3).

Start of text box

End of text box

Of the 69,027 police officers in Canada, 56%, or 38,911, were employed by stand‑alone municipal police services (Table 2). These included 874 officers serving with First Nations self‑administered police services. In addition, 18% of all police officers in Canada were employed in RCMP contract policing, 9% by the OPP, 8% by the SQ, 7% were employed with the RCMP's federal and other policing duties, and 2% were employed with the RCMP's Headquarters and Training Academy. The remaining 1% of police officers in Canada were members of the RNC.

Among the different types of policing services, two reported increases in the number of police officers compared to 2016: the RCMP grew by 291 police officers and First Nation self‑administered police services saw 20 more police officers. This latter increase was driven by a growth in officers reported by Nishnawbe‑Aski Police Service, Ontario (+17), Lac Simon Police Service, Quebec (+11) and Kativik Regional Police Service, Quebec (+8).

The proportion of females employed by police services has grown

On May 15, 2017, there were 14,752 female police officers in Canada, accounting for 21% of all sworn officers. Since data collection began in 1986 when women accounted for just under 4% of all officers, they have slowly accounted for more and more officers each year (Chart 3). Compared to the previous year, police services reported 197 more female officers in 2017 and 29 fewer male officers.

Across the different types of police services, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary reported the highest proportion of female officers at 28%. The Ontario Provincial Police and the Sûreté du Québec each reported 22% of their officers as female. Among the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and municipal stand‑alone police services (excluding First Nations), each reported 21% of officers were female. Across the First Nation self‑administered services, women accounted for 16% of officers in 2017.

Among the 50 stand‑alone municipal police services and municipalities policed by the RCMP that have a population greater than 100,000, the largest proportion of female officers was reported by Longueuil, Quebec with 35% in 2017, followed by Montréal (32%) and Kelowna (32%) (Table 3). Twenty‑five of the 50 municipal police services reported rates of female officers ranging from 21% (the national average) to 30%. The remaining 22 municipal police services were lower than the national average, with the lowest proportion of female officers reported in Ontario's Chatham‑Kent (14%) (Table 3).

Although women account for a smaller proportion of senior and non‑commissioned officers when compared with Constables, their presence in the higher ranks continues to increase. In 2017, the number of female senior officers increased from 348 to 384, accounting for 15% of senior officers. This marks the highest proportion of female senior officers since collection began in 1986. Among non‑commissioned officers in 2017, 19% were women, compared with 12% ten years ago and less than 1% in 1986.

Start of text box

End of text box

The proportion of civilian personnel employed by police services continues to increase

Police services are increasingly made up of civilian members such as clerks, communications staff, and managers and professionals. This increase in civilian membership is referred to as civilianization. Civilianization is "the practice of assigning non‑sworn employees to conduct police work that does not require the authority, special training, or credibility of a sworn police officer" (Griffiths et al. 2006). It has been argued that through redistributing duties to civilian members, effectiveness and economic efficiency may be increased (Griffiths et al. 2014). At the same time, caution has been expressed that civilianization be implemented in a way that is mindful of the duties that require sworn officers and that ensures that the police service and the work environment benefit (Morrell 2014; Peak 2010).

On May 15, 2017, police services employed 29,049 civilians, which represents 613 more than the previous year (+2%) (Table 1). This increase is the largest gain in civilian personnel since 2011, when police services had reported an additional 785 civilians from the preceding year. The number of civilian personnel as a proportion of all personnel employed by police services has gradually increased since data were first collected in 1962. At that time, civilian personnel accounted for 18% of personnel employed by police services, compared with 30% in 2017 (Chart 4). Civilian personnel can be categorized as clerical staff, management and professional staff, communications and dispatch staff, and other civilian staff, which include security officers, cadets, special constables, by‑law enforcement and parking control officers, and school crossing guards. Among these four staff categories, growth has been seen predominantly in the category of managers and professionals, which accounted for 10% of all police personnel in 2017, compared with 4% in 1996 (Chart 5). The management and professional category includes managers, administrators, systems/computer analysts, scientists, and other skilled civilian personnel.

In 2017, 35% of Royal Canadian Mounted Police personnel were civilians, the largest proportion among the different types of police services. Civilians also made up a notable proportion of municipal police services' staff at 29%. Just under one quarter of police personnel in each of the three provincial services were civilian (24% for both Ontario Provincial Police and Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, 23% for Sûreté du Québec). Among First Nations^Note  police services, civilians accounted for 21% of employees.

As in the previous year, women filled 67% of civilian positions in 2017. Among the 19,411 female civilian workers, 45% were working in clerical support positions and 31% occupied management and professional positions.

Overall proportion of officers aged 40 years and older has grown

In 2012, the Police Administration Survey began collecting additional information on the socio‑demographic characteristics of police officers in order to inform human resources planning. Based on these additional data, in 2017, 50% of Canada's police officers were between 40 and 54 years old and approximately 6% were 55 years and older (Chart 6). In addition, 10% of police officers in Canada were eligible to retire as of the 2017 calendar year or the 2016/2017 fiscal year end.

The age profile of officers varies among the different types of police services. For instance, among the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Sûreté du Québec, and both small and large municipal police services,^Note  those aged 40 years and older accounted for 50% to 56% of officers in 2017. The proportion has been growing since 2013, with the exception of a decrease in small municipal police services in 2015 (Chart 7).

The age profile of Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), is somewhat older when compared with all other types of police services. In 2017, 66% of the OPP's sworn officers were aged 40 years or older, up 6 percentage points from 2012.

In contrast, those aged 40 and older account for a smaller proportion of officers within the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC), and this proportion has steadily decreased over time. In 2017, 42% of officers within the RNC were 40 years of age or older, compared with 51% in 2013 (the first year age related data were reported from the RNC).

First Nations^Note  police services reported 46% of their sworn police officers as aged 40 years and older and this age category has continued to increase since 2012 (Chart 7).

The number of recruits hired increased from last year

In 2016/2017, there were 2,917 police officers hired by police services in Canada, up by 287 from 2015/2016. The majority (86%) were recruit graduates, which was the same percentage as the previous year. To be considered a recruit graduate, an individual must have successfully completed a training program where they achieved the status of fully sworn officer in the previous calendar or fiscal year. The remaining 14% of hires were experienced officers (Table 4).

Among the 409 experienced officers hired nationally, 36% had less than 5 years of service and 33% had 5 to under 10 years of service. Among the experienced officers hired by First Nations police services, 67% in 2017 and 53% over the last six year average had less than 5 years of service (Chart 8). In contrast, 77% of experienced officers hired by the Ontario Provincial Police had between 5 and 15 years of experience.

With the financial and personnel investments associated with training police officers, officer retention is an emerging area of research. Some research suggests that turnover can lead to disruption in the workplace, can have a negative impact on police work and crime control, and may hinder the development of leadership within the ranks (Scheer 2014). Police services reported that 2,684 officers departed their service in 2016/2017, with 67% leaving for retirement and the other 33% leaving for other reasons such as a job with another police service or a career change (Table 4).

In 2017, six provinces saw a net loss between the number of police officers they hired and the number of officers that departed their police service, with the greatest net loss experienced by Quebec (-146 officers) followed by Ontario (-115 officers). The other four provinces and the territories all reported a net gain, meaning more officers were hired than departed. Among these, Alberta showed the largest net gain of 262 officers, with British Columbia having the second largest net gain of 255 officers (Table 4).

Majority of officers who left First Nations police services have less than 10 years of service

Based on data covering the period from 2012 to 2017, 16% of all officers who departed their police service had less than 10 years of experience.

Among First Nations^Note  police services, 66% of all departures were officers with under 10 years of service. Of sworn officers leaving First Nations police services with less than 10 years of service, just over 55% had left for another service, while 45% left for other reasons. For small municipal services^Note  policing populations of less than 90,000, 33% of officers who left had under 10 years of service. When it comes to larger municipal police services, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) and Sûreté du Québec (SQ), a far smaller proportion of departures occur within the early part of an officer's career (Chart 9).

Instead, the provincial police services reported the largest proportions of officers leaving for retirement. From 2012 to 2017, 92% of officers who left the RNC left to retire. This was true for 89% of departures from the OPP and 87% from the SQ.^Note  Among large municipal police services, 73% of officers left for retirement, whereas this was true for 56% of departures from small municipal police services. Among the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, 59% of officers left for retirement, and among First Nations police services,^Note  10% of officers left for this reason.

Salaries among First Nations police services have been consistently lower compared with other services, but gap is narrowing

The average annual salary for police personnel in Canada in 2016/2017, including both police officers and civilians, was $97,004, up by 1% from the previous year.^Note  When controlling for inflation, this amount has generally grown since 1998/1999 with a few years of declines, but overall showing an 11% increase over the last decade (Chart 10).

Over time, the average salaries reported by First Nations police services (when accounting for inflation) have remained consistently lower than for other types of police services. In recent years, however, the gap has narrowed. In the 10 years prior to 2017, the average gap in salaries between First Nations and non‑First Nations police services was just over $16,100. In 2017, that difference had decreased to $9,300, with the gap beginning to narrow in 2015 (Chart 10).

In 2016/2017, the average salary in current dollars for personnel employed by First Nations police services was $85,197 compared with $97,139 for personnel of non‑First Nations police services. First Nations average salaries were closely in line with Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and Sûreté du Québec ($87,204 and $87,258, respectively).

Average salaries^Note Note  in 2016/2017 were driven predominantly by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), municipal services serving a population greater than 90,000 and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The average salaries (in current dollars) were higher in these types of police services than any other types of police services. The OPP reported an average salary of $103,918, while average salaries of the large municipal police services ranged from $68,228 in Halifax, Nova Scotia^Note  to $114,490 in Ottawa, Ontario. The RCMP reported an average salary of $96,401.

In 2017, the amount paid for salaries and wages for all police services including police officers and civilians was $9.5 billion. Almost half of this amount (49%) was paid by large stand‑alone municipal police services which served a population greater than 100,000. The RCMP accounted for an additional 29% of national spending on salaries and wages.

Operating expenditures reached $14.7 billion in 2016/2017

Total operating expenditures for all police services across Canada in 2016/2017 amounted to $14.7 billion in current dollars (Table 5). The total expenditures comprise salaries and wages (65%), benefits (16%), and other operating expenditures (20%). Historically, these proportions have remained relatively consistent.

Accounting for inflation,^Note  total operating expenditures rose by 2% from the previous year. Total operating expenditures in constant dollars have risen most years since 1996/1997 except for relatively small decreases in 2011/2012 and 2013/2014 and is 26% higher than it was 10 years ago (Table 6). While total spending in Nova Scotia remained stable and decreased in the Yukon, the other provinces and territories reported increases in total expenditures from the previous year. The largest increase was seen in Alberta (+7%) and Nunavut (+7%), followed by Newfoundland and Labrador (+6%).

Of the total operating expenditures for Canada in current dollars, $7.7 billion (53%) were associated with stand‑alone municipal police services, and marked a 3% increase from 2016. Provincial police reported spending $2.2 billion (15%), which was down slightly from last year. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police reported $4.8 billion in expenditures (33%) and a 6% increase from the previous year (Table 5).

On a per capita basis, using constant dollars,^Note  policing operating expenditures amounted to a cost of $315 per person in 2016/2017. This was virtually unchanged^Note  from 2015/2016 ($313 per capita), staying within the range of $312 to $320 since 2009/2010. The per capita cost, however, was 13% higher in 2016/2017 than in 2006/2007 (Chart 11).

Summary

Overall, police services are generally responsible for enforcing the law, preventing and reducing crime, assisting victims, maintaining public order, and responding to emergencies. However, it has been argued that police services are increasingly being called upon to respond to matters that fall outside of these core functions of the police. For instance, police engage in a variety of tasks including responding to calls for service, initiating enforcement activities, and carrying out administrative duties (Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police 2015; Malm et al. 2005; Waterloo Regional Police Service 2011). At the same time, police are accountable to their municipality, their police service boards and the public to report on both service and fiscal performance.

While national statistics on police resources are able to demonstrate that the rate of police strength has been slowly decreasing since 2012 and the spending per capita has remained relatively stable since 2009, the current survey lacks the detail needed to better understand and report on the cost pressures and cost drivers in policing and how the conventional structure of human resources may be changing.

In order to produce better information to inform and monitor police administration and performance, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS), in collaboration with the policing community, will be launching a new Police Administration Survey in April 2018. This new survey will allow police to report more details on salaries, wages and benefits for officers and civilians, as well as more detailed breakdowns of operating costs and capital expenditures.

Further, the CCJS, in collaboration with the policing community and other partners in public safety, has developed a national, standard police performance metrics framework from which police can build comparable metrics. This framework is planned for publication in fall 2018.

Lastly, together with the policing community, the CCJS has been working to determine the feasibility of a national survey on police calls for service to allow for better reporting on the workload of police as it is estimated that up to 80% of calls for police service are not specifically related to a criminal offence (Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police 2015; Malm et al. 2005; Waterloo Regional Police Service 2011). The ability to report on a regular basis standardized, national statistics on the nature and extent of calls to which police respond will address a significant gap in measuring public safety and police workload and performance.

Detailed data tables

Table 1 Trends in police personnel, Canada, 1962 to 2017

Table 2 Police officers by level of policing, by province and territory, 2017

Table 3 Municipal police services serving a population of 100,000 or more, Canada, 2017

Table 4 Hirings and departures of police officers, by province and territory, Canada, 2016/2017

Table 5 Total expenditures on policing, current dollars, by province and territory, 2016/2017

Table 6 Current and constant (2002) dollar expenditures on policing, Canada, 1986/1987 to 2016/2017

Survey description

Police Administration Survey

The Police Administration Survey collects data on police personnel and expenditures from each municipal, provincial and federal police services in Canada. The following security agencies are excluded from the survey: the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, railway and military police, and government departments enforcing specific statutes in the areas of income tax, customs and excise, immigration, fisheries and wildlife. Additionally, private security services and private investigators are not included in the survey.

Data presented in this report represent police personnel as of May 15, 2017 and year‑end operating expenditures for the 2016 calendar year or the 2016/2017 fiscal year. Police officers include the actual number of permanent sworn police officers available for active duty as of May 15, 2017. Part‑time personnel are converted to a full‑time equivalent. Police expenditures represent actual operating expenditures and include salaries and wages, benefits, and other operating expenses such as accommodation costs, fuel, and maintenance. Expenditure data represent gross expenditure, and does not include capital expenditures, funding from external sources, or cost recovery dollars.

Since 2012, the Police Administration Survey has included a Supplemental questionnaire which captures detailed information on hires, departures, eligibility to retire, years of service, age, education, visible minority status, and language. Due to data quality issues, some of this information is not published.

References

Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. 2015. The Dollars and Sense of Policing, Public Safety and Well‑Being in Your Community.

Griffiths, Curt Taylor, Adam Palmer, Larry Weeks and Brian Polidore. 2006. Civilianization in the Vancouver Police Department. Public Safety Canada.

Griffiths, Curt Taylor, Nahanni Pollard and Tom Stamatakis. 2014. "Assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of a police service: The analytics of operational reviews." Police Practice and Research, 2014. Vol. 16, no. 2. p. 175‑187.

Kiedrowski, John, Michael Petrunik and Rick Ruddell. 2016. Illustrative Case Studies of First Nations Policing Program Models. Public Safety Canada.

Lithopoulos, Savvas and Rick Ruddell. 2013. "Aboriginal policing in rural Canada: Establishing a research agenda." International Journal of Rural Criminology. Vol. 2, no. 1.

Malm, A., Pollard, N., Brantingham, P., Tinsley, P., Plecas, D., Brantingham, P., Cohen, I. and B. Kinney. 2005. "A 30 year analysis of police service delivery and costing: “E” Division." Centre for Criminal Justice Research (CCJS). University College of the Fraser Valley.

Morrell, Kevin. 2014. "Civilianization and its discontents." Academy of Management Proceedings. Vol. 2014, no. 1.

Peak, Kenneth. 2010. "Police issues and practices." Justice Administration: Police, Courts, and Corrections Management. Sixth Edition. Pearson Education.

Scheer, Charlie. 2014. "Current trends in police retention: Strategies for keeping good talent." RCMP Gazette. Vol. 76, no. 3.

Statistics Canada. 2017a. "Immigration and ethnocultural diversity: Key results from the 2016 Census." The Daily. October 25.

Statistics Canada. 2017b. "Aboriginal peoples in Canada: Key results from the 2016 Census." The Daily. October 25.

Statistics Canada. 2015. Aboriginal Statistics at a Glance: 2^nd Edition. Statistics Canada catalogue no. 89‑645‑X.

Waterloo Regional Police Service. 2011. Neighbourhood Policing: Rebuilding to Meet the Needs of Our Changing and Growing Community.