A recent Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics report shows there was a national decrease in police strength when it came to the number of officers in 2022.
Nationally, there were 70,566 police officers employed last year, representing a ratio of 181 per 100,000 residents.
When it comes to Waterloo Region, the Waterloo Regional Police Service had 785 authorized police officers or 128.4 per 100,000.
The WRPS remains below the national rate of 191.4 per 100,000, with the service saying they regularly report rates lower than the national average.
Looking at trends over the last decade, the WRPS rate of officers has consistently declined.
In 2013, the service reported 144 authorized officers per 100,000 and that number has dropped every year with the exception of 2018 and 2019 when it remained steady at 131.
Total operating expenditures were on the rise nationally, up 12 per cent between 2020-2021 and 2021-2022, equating to $18.5 billion in total. Salaries and wages accounted for 67 per cent of the expenditure.
The national average for the cost of policing rose to $342 per person in constant dollars in 2022 from $317 in 2021. The increase can partly be explained by the first collective bargaining agreement for RCMP members and reservists, which included retroactive compensation.
The number of females also continues to increase across the country with 16,008 in 2022, or 23 per cent of all sworn officers.
The number of visible minority officers remains low, accounting for just eight per cent.
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