Note
Issued also in French under title : Civilarisation des services de police au Canada.
Preceding series, Research summary, 1996-2014, was published by volume and number sequence.
Résumé
According to Statistics Canada, after many decades of stability, the proportion of civilian personnel working in Canadian police services increased from 26 percent of all employees in 2001 to 29 percent in 2014, or 2.4 sworn police officers for every civilian worker, down from 2.9 in 2001. While in the past many civilian employees held clerical positions, they now also carry out duties previously performed only by sworn officers including administration and management, specialized functions such as crime analysis, sophisticated investigations (e.g., forensic accountants), and public relations. This study of civilianization of police in Canada focuses on the costs and benefits, along with organizational challenges, for police services.