Victoria City Police Union says City Council's decision telling the police department to reduce it's budget requests will impact safety.
Council voted to limit any increase to inflation plus 1%, and told the Chief to submit a revised budget within 3 months.
In a release the VCPU says they are shocked and disappointed at Council's decision to deny the requested budget increase, which would have allowed the hiring of critical officers for the under-resourced local force.
The union says members are concerned the department will be forced to cut front line positions like the Assertive Community Treatment Program (ACT), the Housing Action Response Team HART, or Integrated Mobile Crisis Response Team (IMCRT) Officers working with some of the community's most vulnerable citizens.
Union president Sean Plater says, according to the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General's latest available statistics, VicPd officers deal with some of the highest violent crime and criminal case loads of municipal forces in B.C.
He also cites reports saying Victoria has the highest crime rate; Victoria and Esquimalt's assault rates were more than twice the national average in 2017; Sexual assault rates were almost 3 times the national average that same year; and that Victoria has almost 9 tiimes the national average of federal parolees per capita (Victoria 218/100,000 National 24/100,000).
The union also says Victoria Police responded to 5,886 calls for service to six downtown shelters during the first eight months of 2018, close to 24 calls per day to those locations alone.
And they say Victoria & Esquimalt's Crime Severity Index of 114 is nearly 60% higher than the national average of 71.
The VCPU in encouraging Victoria City Council members to reconsider the decision.