THE COST OF POLICING

At first sight, the numbers don't make sense. Crime is down in the
city, yet Brantford police want to increase their 2007 budget by 9.2
per cent.

City councillors have been asking some tough questions. Do police
really need $20 million this year, $1.8 million more than in 2006?
Where would the increase go and how would the higher spending help the
community?

Coun. Greg Martin deserves a pat on the back for demanding answers.
Police spending merits the same thoroughness of review as other items
in the city's budget.

The police services board didn't help its case by failing to follow
the budget format requested by city council. Instead, the police
budget included new spending with existing items. And instead of
following council's request to further separate new items into "unmet
needs" and "urgent needs," the police budget calls its new items
"critical needs."

Councillors can't be blamed if they have suspected, if only for a
moment, that the police services board didn't want to play by
council's rules.

Police have answers. Chief Derek McElveny and Deputy Chief Jeff
Kellner responded to councillors. Acting Insp. Geoff Nelson also
presents the police's position on this week's Expoditorcast. (To hear
the podcast, go to www.theexpositor.com, double-click on the
Expoditorcast icon and download the show.)

Incidents of crime per 1,000 population have declined slightly in the
last four or five years, but the nature of crimes is changing.

Brantford is growing, prospering and attracting the attention of
big-city criminals. Our police are dealing with more drugs, guns and
gang activity. The city has more crackhouses and growhouses.

This type of crime demands more police resources. In the old days,
most local crime was committed by home-grown, unsophisticated
suspects. Today's crime has graduated to involve bigger league
criminals from Hamilton and Toronto.

Today's Expositor tells the story of a Brantford family, who were
kidnapped, held at gunpoint and moved around southern Ontario.

It's believed the incident was drug-related. The father handed over
$100,000 in cash. He was threatened with death, tortured and placed
for a time in a shallow grave.

One man has been charged. Police were continuing to seek four others.
This one case will require many hours of investigation.

We don't know if every dollar of the police budget is justified.
However, we do know it would be a mistake to cut back the police
budget simply because statistics show a small decrease in reported
crimes.