There will be a huge budget increase for Halifax Regional Police.
The city gave the green light Wednesday to a $98 million dollar budget, which includes adding 22 new positions.
Many of the new hires will be front line officers (12) to help deal with the city’s growing population.
However, it did not come without some major opposition from residents who feel the money should be used for things like services and housing.
The budget is about a six per cent jump over last year, and a lot of the new money is for increases to salaries and benefits.
More than $1-million will help with the new positions.
Among the new roles:
- Twelve front line police officers
- An officer for the hate crime unit
- Four community response officers
- Two full-time jobs with the police science training program
- Two for security checks
- A full-time position for employee and family assistance
Meantime, the RCMP will add six new officers. The Mounties police many rural areas in the municipality outside Halifax, Dartmouth and Bedford.
The city will approval the overall budget in April.
