Statistics Canada Article on Police Resources in Canada

The Statistics Canada publication Juristat has published an article on Police resources in Canada, 2016.

Among the highlights:

• There were 68,773 police officers in Canada on May 15, 2016. This represents a rate of police strength of 190 officers per 100,000 population and a decline of 1% from the previous year. This marks the fifth consecutive year of decline in the rate of police strength.
• The 28,422 civilians employed by police services across Canada on May 15, 2016 represented 29% of all police personnel. Civilian personnel as a proportion of all personnel employed by police services has consistently and gradually increased since the 1960s.
• On May 15, 2016, women accounted for over 21% of all sworn officers. Women continued to be increasingly represented in the higher ranks of police services. They represented 13% of senior officers in 2016—the highest proportion ever recorded—compared with 6% in 2006 and less than 1% in 1986.
• Year-end operating expenditures for police services in Canada in 2015/2016 totaled $14.2 billion in current dollars. Accounting for inflation, total operating expenditures rose by 1% from the previous year. Police spending increased annually from 1997/1998 to 2010/2011, but has since varied by less than 1% other than somewhat larger increases in 2012/2013 and 2015/2016.
• When accounting for population and inflation, policing operational costs in 2015/2016 amounted to $313 per capita, almost unchanged from $312 per capita in 2014/2015.