This is a huge spike from the 272 fired in 2016 and the 135 shot in 2015.

“Am I concerned about community safety? Yes, I am,” she said at a Police Services Board (PSB) meeting. “Despite the increase in violent crime, we have been working extremely hard to keep everyone safe in the community.”

The PSB, which approved the police force’s draft budget of $423 million for 2019 — an increase of 5.4 per cent from last year’s budget — will present the proposal to the Region of Peel later this year. It will come after Evans retires and is replaced by interim Chief Chris McCord.

There are currently nearly 2,100 police officers on the force.

The 2019 budget proposal also suggested hiring 10 more communicators to address increased calls for service and five more prisoner escort officers resulting from eight new courtrooms at the A. Grenville and William Davis Courthouse in Brampton.

Louise Mitchell, chair of the PSB finance committee, said the budget represents “the growing needs of our community,” including a 3 per cent increase in registered vehicles and a 1 per cent increase in Peel’s policing population.

Former PSB member and former Brampton mayor Linda Jeffrey, who was on the board when Evans presented the draft budget, said she is “very supportive” of the increase in officers.

“I think it's something I’ve been a broken record on … worrying about the response times,” she said. “I think this will really make a difference and help assist our police force to get out there and meet with residents when there is a crime occurring in a timely fashion.”

Evans said the region’s crime rate of 536 crimes per 100,000 people remains below the national (1,098 per 100,000 people) and provincial (841 per 100,000) rates.

The additional uniform officers will play a large part in addressing road safety, as Peel police are laying, on average, 244 charges a day on the road and catching an average of three impaired drivers daily, Evans said.

Mississauga Mayor and PSB member Bonnie Crombie, who hosted a Community Safety Summit this past fall to address crime in the city, said one of the key takeaways was the need to ensure that Peel police are properly resourced and have the tools they need to do their job.

“I look forward to speaking with the chief about her request and closely reviewing the budget materials, which will be presented at Peel Regional Council in mid-January,” she said. “Working closely together with Peel Police and our community we will ensure that Mississauga remains one of the safest cities in Canada.”

Mississauga Ward 9 Coun. and Peel Regional Coun. Pat Saito, who has been a passionate advocate of crime prevention initiatives for many years, said while adding 55 officers will help fight crime, the number will likely have minimal impact on overall service.

“The increases in violent crime can not be fully addressed by adding front line staff. We need to be getting more provincial and federal funding to address the root causes,” she said. “We need to be putting our funding and getting more into the areas of prevention. Yes, we have to address the actual crime and deal with enforcement but 55 officers will not even be noticed on the streets; spread over many shifts and divisions, it means a handful of additional front line people working at one time.”

Saito added she would support more officers as a growing region needs them, “but I hold no hope that they will make a huge impact nor will they reduce the violent crime that has increased.”

Adrian Woolley, president of the Peel Regional Police Association, would also welcome an additional 55 officers but said it’s likely not enough.

“Crime is at an all-time high and our members are already going call to call as it is,” he said. “Our frontline officers are tired, burned out and always being asked to do more with less.”

Former PSB chair and current member Amrik Singh Ahluwalia expressed concerns about how the police force will accommodate the influx of new officers.

“No good to have the budget when we can’t find room to train (the new officers),” he said.

Holmes said in the report that the additional 55 uniform officers, which will enable police to hire 120 officers this year, “is the maximum number of hires that can be accommodated.”

Evans said the capacity exists to train the officers.

“We’ve made arrangements for all that,” she said.

Editor's Note: This story was updated to reflect some of the changes to those on and off the Police Services Board. It has also been updated with comments from Pat Saito and Adrian Woolley.