Re: 鈥淣ine police jobs face axe under budget cap: chief,鈥� Feb. 15.
As a 31-year member of the VicPD, now retired, I was extremely disappointed in Victoria council鈥檚 committee-of-the-whole decision to cap the departmental budget increase for this year, thus not allowing for additional hires, with a resultant cutback of service.
When I began my career back in the 1960s, we did not have a homeless population, we did not have people dying in back alleys from drug overdoses, we did not have the mental-health calls, we did not have to deal with an increasingly complicated and time-consuming court system, all of which the department deals with on a daily basis.
Policing is more and more called upon to deal with the social ills of our society, as well as keeping abreast of its main objective of law enforcement. The recent legalization of marijuana, I believe, will add an extra strain on police resources around the country.
Policing isn鈥檛 cheap, but I believe the chief has put forth a compelling case for additional resources and I urge council to revisit this decision.
Fred Mills
VicPD Inspector (Rtd.)
