There were lots of questions this morning for the Chief, Deputy Chief, and Board Chair of the Belleville Police as city council began operating budget deliberations.
The proposed police budget is going up over 10 per cent, with most of the increase being for the hiring this year of eight new officers.
Chief Mike Callaghan told council that calls for service had increased by 20 per cent in just two years and that the city did not have enough officers to handle the growing workload.
Callaghan says there are too many shifts short-staffed and the stress of dealing with drug overdose and addiction issues every day is hurting frontline officers.
“We can no longer place these kinds of demands on our members without psychologically breaking them. I’m going to repeat that again. We can no longer place these kinds of demands on our members without psychologically breaking them and it’s going to happen.”
The Chief said that when the Bob Rae government did away with mental health and addictions institutions in the early 1990s, drug and crime problems just became progressively worse, adding that the recent spate of overdoses in the city put the community in what he called “unprecedented times.”
Belleville’s proposed police budget is $26.1 million. When the police service finished its deputation to council there was applause from the packed gallery, many of whom are businesspeople and employees from the Downtown District. They appeared in support of the new hires being proposed by the police service.
Council’s budget debate will continue through the afternoon.
