VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Vancouver police have put together a new budget that doesn’t hire any new officers, but instead calls for the creation of a new un-armed team.

Police think the new Community Safety team, by responding to low-priority calls, will free up officers to deal with emergencies.

It comes with a 6.5 million dollar price tag over three years. At the same time, the proposed 2013 budget  would leave 57 officer vacancies unfilled, which Chief Jim Chu blames on financial pressures. “Right now we are going to try this new service, and we’re going to look at all of our performance in terms of service metrics and we’re going to see how it goes.”
    
Mayor Gregor Robertson thinks the new team will help with public safety. “I think there’s a strong case for investment in this Community safety program.”

Tom Stamatakis with the union thinks the VPD should hire more officers.    

“What’s more important is to fill the vacancies that we’re currently carrying, with respect to sworn police officer positions, and just as importantly to fill the vacancies we’re carrying on the civilian side,” he says.   

He says the union is all for improving efficiency and service but is worried this move will be just about saving money.

“We have always been and will continue to look at new ideas when it comes to being more efficient and providing support to fully train police officers so they can respond more calls more quickly…This cannot be an either or, if it’s being proposed as a cheaper alternative to hiring fully qualified and fully trained police officers then it’s not something that we’d support,” argues Stamatakis.

SFU Criminologist Rob Gordon thinks the Community Safety team is a good idea. He notes jurisdictions outside of Canada have had success with this kind of support.    

“They do serve a very useful function in making connections between communities and police officers and in their own right, they provide a lot of support and assistance in communities,” he says

He believes the visibility of team members will deter crime and make people feel secure.
   
The police budget now goes to City Council for approval.