As the City of Toronto ramps up its 2026 budget process, the municipality’s police service is seeking an additional $93.8 million — a seven-per-cent year-over-year increase — to bolster its operations next year.
According to a submission going to the Toronto Police Services Board’s budget sub-committee, the Toronto Police Service is looking to add 143 new uniform positions to its ranks (70 frontline officers, 16 neighbourhood officers, 17 recruitment and training officers, and 40 investigative and specialized officers).
The 2026 ask also includes 40 new civilian positions to be allocated “based on operational priorities.”
A news release issued on Monday said the new hires would allow for “responding to emergencies faster, and increasing our investigative capacity to close cases and giving closure to victims of crime and making Toronto safer.”
The statement said other factors leading to the proposed budget increase come from collective bargaining, employee benefits and continuing a multi-year hiring plan.
The request came amid year-over-year reductions in reports of several types of major crimes in Toronto. In comparison to 2024, year-to-date police data shows a nearly 54-per-cent decrease in homicides, a 27.5-per-cent reduction in auto thefts, a 17.2-per-cent decrease in robberies and an 11.5-per-cent reduction in sexual violation incidents. However, there was 7.3-per-cent increase in major thefts during the same period.
Approximately 84 per cent of the Toronto Police Service’s budget comes from property taxes while the remainder comes from other revenue and grant sources. If the full increase is approved, the total 2026 operating budget will be $1.43 billion.
Mayor Olivia Chow was asked about the proposed Toronto police budget increase during an unrelated news conference at city hall Tuesday morning. She didn’t commit to supporting the ask, opting to wait until it’s reviewed.
“We’ll let it go through the process and see where it lands. We’ll talk about it then,” Chow said.
Not long after being elected in 2023, Chow and the Toronto Police Association (TPA) were engaged in a public disagreement over the police service’s 2024 budget request.
At the time, the Toronto Police Service was looking for a $20-million increase — a figure Chow wanted reduced to $12 million. That proposed reduction caused Chief Myron Demkiw to speak out, arguing the reduction would put the public at risk. In the end, the service got its full request.
In 2025, the Toronto Police Services Board approved a $46.2-million increase for an overall budget of $1.34 billion.
Meanwhile, the full board is scheduled to review the 2026 budget request on Dec. 10 and the submission will be sent to the City of Toronto budget committee for review toward the end of January.
With files from Michael Talbot
