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. With the exception of self-administered First Nations police services, all 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 2010 and final expenditures for the year 2009 (or 2009/2010 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., 2009) 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, 2010. 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 1,052 temporary officers reported in 2010, 939 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.

Population figures used in this report are provided by the Demography Division of Statistics Canada and represent postcensal or intercensal estimates. Population data are regularly updated and, as such, rates published in this report may differ slightly from rates published in earlier reports. Text and headings indicate the population figures used.

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 crime and traffic offences reported by all police services in Canada, dating back to 1962.

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.

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 one of five 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 by a blank line from the other municipal police services.

Table 9 includes only personnel from municipal police services that existed on May 15, 2010. Municipal police services that ceased to exist and/or were amalgamated by other new police services on or before May 15, 2010 are not included. Crime data for 2010 are not yet available, therefore data presented in table 9 of the report are for the year 2009.

Important notes

Population

Municipal populations are derived from postcensal estimates for July 1 (based on the 2006 Census) as provided by Demography Division, Statistics Canada. The population estimates are based on usual place of residence. Population data are updated regularly and figures published in this report may differ slightly from figures published in earlier reports.

Some Aboriginal police services police populations comprising both band and non-band members. Hence the actual population policed by some forces may be higher than indicated in this report. Comparisons should be made with caution.

Municipalities are grouped according to the following population ranges:

1. 100,000 and over
2. 50,000 to 99,999
3. 15,000 to 49,999
4. 5,000 to 14,999
5. Less than 5,000

Police officers

Actual strength

Counts represent the "actual" number (full-time equivalents) of permanent sworn police officers of all ranks as of May 15, 2010 data. This number also includes officers who are deployed to contract positions (e.g. airport policing, U.N. missions) and who are not available for general policing duties in their community. Police officers on long-term leave (e.g. secondment-out, disability, education leave) who are not being paid by the police service's annual budget are excluded.

Authorized strength

"Authorized police officer strength" represents the number of fully-sworn police officers the police department was allowed to employ during calendar or fiscal year.

Police officers per 100,000 population

Figures represent the total number of police officers per 100,000 population. This is simply an alternative way of presenting the population per police officer.

Integrated policing

Some areas are policed by integrated policing teams or programs in addition to regular police services. Integrated teams may be established to address specific policing needs, such as homicides or gang activity, and often include officers from multiple police services. Special care is taken in this report to ensure the staffing and funding arrangements associated with integrated teams do not result in an overcounting of officers or other staff or in a misrepresentation of expenditure data.

Other personnel

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, 2010. There are no "other personnel" included in the counts for the RCMP municipal policing contracts. The municipality may hire other personnel, but they are not included in this report.

Total operating expenditures

Figures 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. They have been rounded to the nearest thousand. Revenues, recoveries, and those costs that fall under a police service's capital expenditures are excluded.

Crime Severity Index

The police-reported Crime Severity Index (CSI) measures changes in the severity of crime from year to year. Each type of offence is assigned a weight derived from actual sentences handed down by courts.

Percentage change in Crime Severity Index

This figure represents the year-over-year percent change in the Crime Severity Index.

Weighted clearance rate

When a police investigation leads to the identification of a suspect against whom a charge could be laid, then that incident can be cleared. Criminal incidents can either be "cleared by charge" or "cleared otherwise". When an information is laid against the suspect (i.e., the person is formally charged), then from a statistical point of view the related actual incident can be cleared by charge. In cases where the police do not lay an information, even though they have identified a suspect and have enough evidence to support the laying of such, the incident is cleared otherwise. Examples include instances where extrajudicial sanctions or alternative measures are recommended by the police, where police issue a warning or caution, where the complainant requests charges not be laid or cases where the alleged offender dies before he or she can be formally charged.

The weighted clearance rate is based on the same principle used to create the 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.

Since the process of solving crime is often time-consuming, a criminal incident may be solved months or even years after it was reported to police and recorded by the UCR Survey. Therefore, it is possible for the number of incidents cleared in a year to be greater than the total number of "actual" incidents that year, and thus for the weighted clearance rate to exceed 100%.

Note

For more information regarding the UCR Survey and crime statistics, please refer to Canadian Crime Statistics (Catalogue no. 85-205-X).