Summary
"In 2004, a research project was undertaken to examine the changes in the police’s capacity to respond to crime over the past 30 years. Using a variety of methodologies and data sources, this report concludes that the demands for police services in British Columbia has increased at a substantially disproportionate rate to the increases in population and that the amount of police time and resources spent responding, processing, and clearing criminal events has increased disproportionately to police budgets and staffing.
All of the data reviewed for this report demonstrates that there has been an insufficient increase in the number of police and police budgets during the past 30 years. The resulting strain on police services, therefore, is based, in part, on: the general upward trend in reported crimes disproportionate to population increases; property crimes and nuisance crimes requiring disproportionate total costs compared to the most serious crimes; an increased need for technical education and training; decreased routine contact with the public; a four fold increase in administrative/paperwork loads; and evolving case law, statutory law, and
individual criminal justice agencies’ policies that have added enormous procedural complexity to police work."--Pages 2-3.
Contents
1. Introduction -- 2. Research strategy and methods -- 3. Historical overview of crime trends in British Columbia -- 4. Overview of a general duty day and literature review of police time and cost analysis -- 5. The impact of judical decisions, legislative changes, social poliies, and technological developments on police workloads and costing -- 6. Specific crimes and associated timing -- 7. Model building -- 8. Conclusions and recommendations -- Appendix A. Conclusions and recommendations -- Appendix B. Daily time use logs.