I was interested to read this CBC Hamilton article entitled "Policing Costs Crippling Festival of Friends, Organizer Says", with the organizer being Loren Lieberman (incidentally the Mercantis spokesman for their casino efforts).
I've made posts here before about Hamilton police chief Glenn De Caire's 2013 budget demands which are way above inflation and includes asking for 20 additional officers and one civilian. Lieberman is quoted in the article:
"A $40,000 increase in policing is about 10 per cent of our cash operations,” Loren Lieberman told CBC Hamilton.
and
“It just doesn't make sense,” Lieberman said. “It's a 700 per cent increase in the contracted position from the cops.”
I find this interesting because the Hamilton police force seems to have morphed into an entity that only seeks to increase revenue to itself and its size, whether it be by increased funding directly from the tax payer, shaking down festivals for supposed required protection or writing more tickets.
With regards to the festivals and the police around, I've noticed some weird patterns. Last year for Supercrawl I noticed a fair number of officers on James North at midday. At the time I thought, that seems to be a waste of money, as there is no need for them right then. Considering the chief's ask for extra officers, perhaps he should redo his schedule, have fewer police during the day at festivals or also just make covering festivals part of his budget with his current staffing.
Another related police spending issue is the mounted unit. I've seen them patrolling John Street North between King and King William this winter during the weekday morning for no particular reason, where a foot patrol certainly would have done the same job. I'm sure those hours could have been cut and reassigned to a festival.
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