Economics of Policing: Complexity and Costs in Canada, 2014

Overall, ICURS found that the demand for police services has been increasing over the past ten years through increases in non-criminal calls for policing, continuing increases in the legal complexity of equitable handling of cases, the growing policing response to mental health and addiction needs, and the increases in technical demands on services. While we document here a range of changes to the way policing ‘gets done’ in the Canada, it is important to state at the outset, that it is the police and civilian staff, at a local level, who must respond to an increasingly dynamic set of requirements and expectations. Police agencies, large or small, urban, rural or remote, must adapt to increased pressure in their daily work and are required to serve multiple, and at times, seemingly incongruent roles. These pressures stem from internal and external forces, reflecting, we believe, an evolving social and economic context in our communities.