Vancouver Police Department makes staff cuts to stay within budget

In order to try to stay within budget, the Vancouver Police Department has made the decision to implement cuts on its current staff team. 

In an email sent to VPD staff this week, Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu notes that spending costs are exceeding the $220 million budget.

The department is authorized for a size of 1,327 officers, but it has only received sufficient funding for 1,260 officers.

“Our problem is that our costs are rising faster than the increases we receive for our budget. It’s not a new problem. In order to address our budget pressures we have been holding approximately 58 sworn positions and over 20 civilian positions vacant since 2010,” Chu writes in the email.

Chu also highlights that in 2015, nine more positions will be held vacant, meaning that there will be a total of 67 unfilled spots. The 67 empty positions will be reallocated to HR so that no unit will have unfunded positions.

The email indicates significant recommendations for the department to remain within budget. Some of these recommendations include:

• Reducing the Canine Unit by 3.
• Reducing the Marine Unit by 7. This reduction is being proposed even though the federal government shut down the Kitsilano Coast Guard station in February 2013, which subsequently strained the marine units of the VPD.
• Reducing some Major Crimes positions.
• Eliminating the Crime Scene Investigation Unit (a total of 7 positions).
• Staff reductions to other sections throughout the VPD such as the Information Management Services section, Office of the chief Constable, the Planning Research Audit Section and others.

Reassignments for officers impacted by these cuts will begin in early-2015.

Feature Image: Sergei Bachlakov via Shutterstock