The head of the union representing Hamilton police officers says staffing is at a "crisis" level.

Spearheading the allegedly serious situation, some officers from three specialized units had to be temporarily moved to front-line patrol from July until September to cover vacancies.

The units were BEAR (break, enter, auto theft and robbery), vice and drugs, and HEAT, the High Enforcement Action Team.

"By breaking these units down, we are creating an opportunity for criminals to ply their trade and bring more guns, drugs and violence into the city of Hamilton," Hamilton Police Association president Clint Twolan warned in a letter to the police board that was obtained by The Spectator.

"We do not want to replicate the growth of violent crime that is happening in cities like Toronto," Twolan said.

In an interview, Twolan added these specialty units were "already as thin as they could get."

Deputy Chief Dan Kinsella said he made the decision to temporarily shift officers into patrol after it became clear that moving officers from within divisions was not enough to cover vacation, sick days and parental leave.

All officers have returned to their units mid-September.

"I had to prioritize what the needs are of the community ... I prioritized all our work across the city," he stressed.

The decision still left enough officers in the specialized units to respond to priority work, but Kinsella admitted there were likely some things that had to be pushed back.

Twolan said the service is "routinely" not meeting minimum staffing levels per shift that are set out in the collective agreement — leaving many officers constantly being called in for overtime and feeling burnt out.

From July to September, there were more than 100 "text blasts" sent out to officers requesting overtime work.

Kinsella agreed not meeting minimum staffing levels does happen "occasionally."

Kinsella has been speaking with Twolan regularly and is keenly aware of staffing issues, he said.

Requesting increased staffing is something the police service expects to address with the upcoming 2019 budget — which, it's anticipated, will be presented at the December police board meeting.

Requests to hire more officers are not new or unique to Hamilton, but come amid a push to modernize policing and pressure to control police budgets across the province.

Police board chair Coun. Lloyd Ferguson said the board and the association are in the midst of "intense bargaining," and he won't "negotiate in public." But he did note that hiring is always a major issue.

"I've never met a union leader who doesn't think we (don't) have enough members," he added.

Complicating the budget is this month's cannabis legalization.

It's not yet clear what impact the historic Oct. 17 event will have on calls for service and whether the federal or provincial governments will give funding to hire or train more officers.

If you look at the number of police officers by population — the officer-to-public ratio — Hamilton isn't the highest or lowest in Canada.

According to 2017 figures from Statistics Canada, Hamilton has 149 officers to every 100,000 people.

Just looking at the "big 12" police services in Ontario, the highest officer-to-public ratio was Windsor with 192 and the lowest was Halton Region at 120.

But the issue is more complex than population. You have also to look at the number and complexity of calls for service.

In Hamilton, there were 367,725 calls to police in 2017, resulting in 318,749 calls dispatched.

Last year, front-line patrol officers spent 321,665 hours on calls, up 14 per cent in two years, according to a Hamilton police patrol officer workload study.

One example often cited by police is the length of time it now takes to process a domestic violence call because of legislative requirements. It has gone from maybe an hour to between four and six hours.

Collectively, Twolan said he believes this makes Hamilton the "leanest" police service in Ontario.

For critics, the demand to hire more police is an example of police management not willing to look at other ways to find efficiencies.

John Sewell, a former mayor of Toronto, has written books on policing and has been critical about modernization efforts in Toronto as co-ordinator of the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition.

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He believes police services generally don't need to hire more officers, but need to be willing to make fundamental changes to how police operate — changes such as switching shift schedules.

Most police services have "far more officers than you need, they're just not used in the right way," he said.

As the union, police associations are always fighting for more jobs, Sewell said.

"We don't get good bang for our public bucks."

Some police have looked to possible privatization or civilianization of roles.

In Hamilton, the forensics unit includes civilian special constables. But Twolan questions whether making jobs civilian positions actually saves much money over time.

Questions around policing and community response have been points of discussion at debates and among local candidates for the upcoming municipal election.

Mayoral candidates Fred Eisenberger and Vito Sgro have both expressed support for adding a new community police station in the Waterdown area, for example.

But Ward 3 candidate Ned Kuruc has also called loudly for more police presence in his central city area, while Ward 10 candidate Ian Thompson has vowed to push for 30 new police hires.

Eisenberger, who is also a member of the police board, has said he is generally supportive of hiring more officers, but he added he is inclined to leave the details up to the experts.

In Hamilton, there has been criticism of the ACTION (Addressing Crime Trends in Our Neighbourhood) unit, which patrols high-crime areas by bike and foot.

A significant part of the approximately 35-officer team's job is issuing provincial offence notice tickets and, in recent years, canvassing after a crime.

Kinsella said the ACTION unit is also used to support front-line patrol when they're short-staffed.

Hamilton has created several units in recent years including ACTION, the mounted unit, and the lauded social navigator and mobile rapid crisis response unit, which is seen as a model for other units created to deal with people in crisis. Yet, Twolan points out, these positions were filled from within the service.

Twolan points to a seven-year staffing plan that was approved in 2011, but has not been maintained.

Hamilton police would need to hire about 35 sworn officers and 35 civilian members to meet the standards of 877 sworn officers and 316 civilian members set out in that staffing plan, he said.

"Lean budgets are being achieved on the backs of our police and civilian members and clearly to the detriment of their collective wellness," he said.

noreilly@thespec.com

905-526-3199 | @NicoleatTheSpec