PROMISED FUNDS FOR POLICE URGED

Saying London may have Ontario's highest homicide rate this year, an
opposition critic at Queen's Park is pressuring the government to pony
up promised extra police officers for the city.

With a spike in violent crime in 2005 -- including a record 13
homicides in London -- Conservative MPP Bob Runciman said
municipalities need to know how many officers they'll get under a
two-year-old Liberal promise to put 1,000 officers on the street.

"(London's) numbers certainly don't compare to Toronto's, but on a per
capita basis it's the highest murder rate, according to the (Ontario)
police association," Runciman said yesterday.

"Those kinds of facts should be enough to concern anyone with respect
to public safety."

London has applied for 77 officers under the plan that was part of a
Liberal election promise in October 2003.

The plan would see the government dole out up to $35,000 a year for a
police officer's salary. Municipalities are expected to pay the rest.

The London request was "put forward based on what they believe they
need to ensure community safety, especially in the face of a rash of
violent crimes which are fuelled by guns, gangs and the illegal drug
trade," Runciman told Community Safety and Correctional Services
Minister Monte Kwinter in the legislature Tuesday.

London has had 13 homicides this year -- one for every 25,000 people,
compared to Toronto which has had 68 homicides this year -- or one for
every 36,000 people.

Police Chief Murray Faulkner said he isn't sure if London has the
highest homicide rate per capita in Ontario.

"I'm hoping this is a bad year for us," he said. "I think the point is
there's violence in our communities and it's not just in Toronto."

As the fourth largest city in Ontario, the provincial government can't
forget to give London resources, Faulkner said.

He hopes the city will get funding for more than 30 officers under the
plan.

Those officers have already been hired, meaning Londoners won't see
any new officers on the street, but the funding will help the city's
bottom line.

London police have 534 officers. City council has approved hiring 15
more officers this year. The police service's board plans to ask
council for an additional 14 officers next year.

Police services will know by Nov. 30 how many officers they'll get,
said Tony Brown, a spokesperson for the Community Safety and
Correctional Services Ministry.

Once the announcements are made, police forces are free to hire
officers and bill the ministry, he said.

Runciman, the Tory critic for the ministry, said the provincial
government has been slow to move on the promise -- announcing it seven
times in the last two years.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton said yesterday the number of police officers
in Ontario per 100,000 is getting worse, not better.

Faulkner said for the funding to have an effect, police forces need to
know how many officers they're going to get by Nov. 30.

In London, the expected funding is already part of the force's 2006
operating budget.

"I've based my budget around that . . . so Nov. 30 is pretty important
to us," he said.