Monday, January 24th, Premier Campbell announced 215 more police for BC and said "This will be one of the largest increases in the last two decades." Claims like that are why Campbell lacks credibility. Between 1996 and 1998, the total number of police increased by 397. That was higher than normal, but it is not unusual for the total to increase by over 100 per year. Calendar year 2000 was an exception when there was a reduction of 52 police officers in the forces operated directly by 12 municipalities.

The government's news release said: "The Province will add 215 RCMP officers in B.C. communities this year as part of a crime-fighting strategy that will see an additional $122 million invested in policing, corrections and courts over the next three years". Governments have a habit of making multi-year announcements so the dollar amount sounds bigger. The $122 million is broken down as: 2005/06: $35 million ($30 million for police and corrections, $5 million for courts); 2006/07: $42 million ($32 million for police and corrections, $10 million for courts); 2007/08: $45 million ($34 million for police and corrections, $11 million for courts).

Some cynical media types immediately branded the announcement as an election kickoff. The real cynics got out their calculators to see what's new in the announcement. The legislative "estimates book" shows a line item in the budget for the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General that is labeled "police services". In fiscal year 2001-02 police services were budgeted $170 million and in 2004-05 $215 million. Contrary to the parsimonious image of the Campbell government, police services have had average annual budget growth of 8%. If the past trend had continued, the police services budget would increase by $17 million next year, and almost $19 million in the following two years. The government's announcement means that the police services budget will increase by $42 million more than the recent trend suggests, increasing the annual growth from 8% to 14%. Municipalities pay over three times as much as the province for policing; the federal government pays slightly less if its over 800 strong federal force isn't counted (as is the case in some reports on the Solicitor's website).

Data on the Solicitor's website show the number of police in BC from 1993 through 2002. BC had 7,457 police of all descriptions in 2002 including federal RCMP who do international security operations, provincial RCMP, municipal RCMP, "independent" police forces in 12 municipalities and first nations administered police.

As "generous" as Campbell's announcement appears, wait for the sparks to fly when the details are released on the deployment of the new officers. The news release says the announcement means "89 more police officers to fight serious and major crime, 14 more police officers to fight cyber-crime, 80 more police officers for rural communities and general policing, and 32 more police officers for First Nations communities." There will be many municipal councils that feel their community deserves a larger share of the new resources.

A surprise in the announcement was the allocation of part of the $122 million for the courts. The budget for court services is part of the Attorney General's budget; they received $134 million in 2004-05, and $138 million in 2001-02. The courts have suffered in the New Era. The 2005-06 increase of $5 million will restore the budget to the 2001 level. We might have fewer frustrated police officers, old or new, if the Campbell government provided adequate resources to move cases through the courts.