Police board hears from public on proposed 2024 budget

The Waterloo Regional Police Services (WRPS) board hosted the first of two public consultation meetings Thursday to get feedback on their proposed 2024 budget.

This comes just over a week after WRPS came out with its plan that would see a more than $16.3 million budget increase, bringing the service’s annual budget to $230 million.

Chief Mark Crowell said the increase would allow them to hire 18 more officers, cover inflation and invest in technology.

The 18 officers would increase the budget by just over $13 million, resulting in a $41 tax increase for the average homeowner.

COMMENTS FROM DELEGATES

The meeting on Thursday afternoon allowed five delegates to make a presentation to the WRPS board. The delegates were a mix of community members and representatives from local organizations.

Harald Drewitz, from the Kitchener Tax Watch Group, criticized the format of the meeting.

“I expected it to be more interactive a process as opposed to members of the public giving presentations,” he said.

He also questioned the timing of the meeting and what the board would do with the community’s feedback.

“I would have thought this input session would have taken place prior to the first submission to the police board. Will the input from this session have the opportunity to be incorporated or make a difference to the 2024 budget?” Drewitz said.

Chair of the board, Karen Redman, said there still a lot more discussion before the budget it finalized. There’s another public input session on Nov. 6. The board will meet to discuss the budget again on Nov. 15. The budget will be presented to the region on Nov. 22 and it will be finalized by mid-December.

“So there’s still lots of runway to make comment. You should always feel free. And to anyone who is listening or is on the line, if you want to do a written submission, you’re welcome to do that,” Redman said.

Another group, KW Habilitation, spoke during the meeting. The group is a not-for-profit that helps children and adults with developmental disabilities. The group said they’re hoping to build a partnership with WRPS.

“We want to create those partnerships and educational opportunities where frontline officers understand what that looks like for an individual with a disability,” Sara Ropp with KW Habilitation said. “How to respond in situations. If there’s a crisis, what do we need when those responses happen?”

Ropp said they had great success working with WRPS in the past but admitted more could be done.

“[We] feel perhaps there could be education offered around disabilities, services, supports and what those look like for individuals,” Ropp said.

Redman said they appreciate all community feedback and look forward to continuing the discussion before the budget is finalized.

“Our hope is to hear a diverse range of perspectives from our community partners with the goal of strengthening public safety and community well-being,” Redman said in a media release earlier this month.

Waterloo regional police said they are committed to building a better, safer and more equitable region for all citizens and said that can only be achieved through meaningful collaboration with local partners.