Report: 350 Vancouver cops make over $100,000 a year
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Almost 350 Vancouver Police Department members were paid more than $100,000 in 2008, a new report has found.
And two unidentified regular VPD members earned roughly $225,000 each, the report by researcher Daniel Fontaine states.
That’s in contrast to Premier Gordon Campbell’s $175,000 pay cheque, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson’s $135,000 and most provincial court judges.
A veteran constable is entitled to $89,900 regular pay per year.
“Some policemen are making far in excess of any elected official,” said Fontaine, a one-time aid to former Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan who obtained his figures through a freedom of information request. Fontaine said overtime is endemic in the Vancouver force and overtime perks are even used to entice new prospects onto the force.
“The VPD’s recruiting package says policemen make at least $10,000 to $15,000 a year in overtime,” he said.
“Overtime is built into the DNA.”
But Vancouver Coun. Geoff Meggs said council has been satisfied with efforts to reduce overtime.
“Police have worked very, very hard to manage financially as tight as they can,” said Meggs. “They are faced with tremendous pressures in gang warfare. They can’t ask criminals to hold off while they balance their budget,” he said.
Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu and city manager Penny Ballem noted last March that the VPD had spent nearly half of its $2-million criminal investigation fund in the first two months of the year and was expected to be “significantly overbudget by the the end of 2009,” citing the unprecedented war on gangs.
The VPD “is not funded to sustain such a large operation addressing a regional crime problem for a lengthy period of time,” Chu said in a report to city council. The freedom of information document listed 2,000 VPD salaries, but no names were disclosed.
Fontaine said the public deserves accountability in police budgeting as much as other areas of government.
“Other departments in Vancouver are undergoing layoffs and pay freezes,” said Fontaine, adding that more officers are being hired.
VPD figures show the top earner in 2008 was police chief Jim Chu with $268,000. Deputy-Chief Constable Doug Lepard was paid $247,887 and Deputy-Chief Constable Bob Rolls $218,014.
Fontaine conceded some monies were paid to police by outside employers such as the film industry and the fireworks festival, who rent out cops at overtime rates. He said the income would show up on the salary survey, but not come out of the police budget.
Vancouver police spokeswoman Const. Jana McGuinness said the overtime is needed to combat crime in B.C.’s biggest city.
“It’s difficult to have it both ways,” said McGuinness. “We’ve got extraordinary situations in respect of the gang wars.
“That activity has gone on for the better part of the last year, which definitely has counted toward a significant amount of overtime,” she said.
McGuinness pointed out the VPD has been recruiting at a rapid rate, having hired 200 staff in the past 18 months, “in our push up to 2010 to fill all the vacancies. “We’ve got to have people to fill those spots on the streets until the new people are hired,” she said.
McGuinness added: “We need to be out there policing and doing everything possible to put an end to the gang wars. “It does contribute to the overtime expenses, for certain.”
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