The growing responses to Taproot's listening work in the lead up to the Oct. 20 municipal election reveal that funding for the Edmonton Police Service remains top of mind for many voters.
Earlier this year, Taproot launched our listening campaign at several in-person and virtual events, and we posted a 2025 election question on our site. We have been gathering responses ever since, and at last count, more than 925 people have provided them. The listening was built around a simple question: "What issues do you care about as you consider who to vote for in the 2025 municipal election, and why?"
More than 100 people discussed the police in their response. Some respondents said they want the city to decrease funding for the police and move that money to preventative measures. Others said they want to increase the presence of police officers, especially downtown and on transit. Many said they want the police service to be more transparent and accountable, especially when officers employ violence in the line of duty.
When the current council was elected in October 2021, the Western world was in the process of re-examining policing. While the Black Lives Matter movement started in the early 2010s, after the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Rekia Boyd, it accelerated in May 2020 when a video of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, killing George Floyd, a Black man, went viral. The murder sparked global protests against police brutality, especially towards Black people and other racialized communities, and led to many North American municipalities re-evaluating how much funding they provide police. In Edmonton, the previous council voted to cut $11 million from the police budget for 2021 and to reallocate the money to community safety and well-being initiatives.
The current council voted 12-1 in June 2022 to approve a $407-million base budget for police starting in 2023 (Coun. Michael Janz was the sole opposing vote). This action contradicted what some councillors said they would do during the campaign for the 2021 election, as Taproot reported. In 2023, council voted 9-4 in favour of a new police funding formula. The formula provides a base annual budget that is then increased through indexing it to inflation and population. It is designed to give the police stable and consistent funding. Councillors Janz, Ashley Salvador, Anne Stevenson, and Erin Rutherford voted against the formula.
The police service accounts for more than 14% of the city's entire operating budget and is its single largest line item. The police budget is $464 million in 2025.
The responses to Taproot's election question show that some Edmontonians still want to reallocate funding from police to other community initiatives. "I want a candidate who will rein in police spending, allowing the city to invest in things that improve people's lives," one respondent said. "We need to feel safe. That doesn't mean more money for police. It means policies that help those in need get the services and stable living conditions they require," another said.
Other respondents said they wanted city council to hold police accountable when officers assault people, like in the high-profile cases of Pacey Dumas and Mathios Arkangelo. "Make EPS more accountable and take action on senseless police violence," one respondent said. Dumas, who is Indigenous, was 18 when an Edmonton police constable kicked him in the head, leaving him with life-altering injuries. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team investigated the incident and recommended criminal charges against the police officer, but the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service declined to prosecute. An Edmonton police officer shot and killed Arkangelo in June 2024. ASIRT is investigating the homicide and said Arkangelo fled the scene of a single-vehicle collision before the shooting.
Many respondents to Taproot's election question said they wanted to reallocate funding from the police budget to other social initiatives. (Mack Male/Flickr)
Meanwhile, some survey respondents said they want the police force to be more transparent. "I care about policing and feel that too much of our budget goes to police with questionable outcomes. Police, (and budget increases), need to be held accountable," a respondent said.
Last June, the Edmonton Police Commission refused to release an internal audit and program review to council. "The audit plan has traditionally been an inward facing document and we feel a public facing audit program will diminish overall effectiveness," the commission wrote in a letter in June 2024. "We have full confidence in our current audit function under direction of the commission."
Some respondents wanted to increase police funding, and some wanted an increased visible presence of police officers to enhance feelings of safety. "Crack down on nuisance homeless and transient people with increased supports to get them off the street and a stronger police presence at 3am," one respondent said. "FUND the police to empower and educate and recruit, we need more."
In 2022, council voted to increase police presence in Chinatown through the Healthy Streets Operations Centre shortly after two men were killed in a random, violent attack. The centre wound down at the end of 2024.
Edmonton's police service receives the vast majority of its funding from the city's property tax levy. The service also raises revenues, however, through provincial policing grants, traffic fines, school resource office fees, and other means.
For more on Edmonton's 2025 municipal election — from where candidates stand to voting info — visit edmonton.taproot.vote. There you can complete the Taproot Edmonton Survey and immediately see which candidates for mayor and council in your ward align with your views.