What is the approximate annual policing cost to taxpayers in Canada?

• A. Approximately 60 billion
• B. Approximately 5 billion
• C. Approximately 20 billion
• D. Approximately 40 billion

Answer: (C)

Understanding how much Canadians pay in policing costs starts with adding up what all levels of government spend on police services each year: municipal police budgets, RCMP contract policing, and federal policing programs. When you include salaries and benefits for officers and staff, pensions, day-to-day operations, equipment, training, and capital investments, the total sits in the low twenty billions annually. That’s why the closest estimate is around twenty billion dollars per year—it's the best reflection of the overall scale across municipalities and RCMP contracts. The other figures don’t fit because they either understate the large urban police budgets or would imply a total much higher than government spending data indicate.