Crime and justice: $235 million includes B.C. police academy, new community safety program

Finance Minister Brenda Bailey presents B.C.'s 2025 budget, with a record $10.9-billion deficit, in the legislature.

Over the next three fiscal years, the province will spend $235 million towards public safety and access to justice, some of which is new funding.

Increased capacity and security at BC Supreme Court, Vancouver Provincial Court, and virtual bail proceedings will come with $24 million in new spending.

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Over three years, $15 million in fresh funds will go towards victims’ services, with $25 million for the BC Coroners Service, BC Corrections and more fire inspections.

The provincial government will also fund the expansion of the Justice Institute of B.C.’s police academy training slots from 192 to 288 officers per year.

The budget also announced a new “Community Safety and Targeted Enforcement Program” pilot that’ll attempt to address street disorder by specifically targeting “robbery, shoplifting, theft, mischief to property and property-related offences, providing police with enhanced tools, technology and investigative resources to tackle these crimes.”

The province is pledging $30 million per year over the next three years for a total of $90 million toward community programs responding to encampments, known as the HEART and HEARTH initiatives, with an eye to “support community-based wrap-around supports, including leveraging village-like housing as alternatives to encampments.”

The budget cites 611 temporary supportive homes or shelter beds opened since 2023 in 10 municipalities, including Abbotsford, Campbell River, Kamloops, Prince George, Vancouver, and Victoria.

About $104 million over three years will go toward body-worn cameras for police, RCMP wage increases and Indigenous policing programs.