During a time when there have been calls to defund police, Toronto Police Chief James Ramer is asking for a nearly $25-million funding increase for 2022, which is 2.3 percent more than last year’s police budget.

Chief Ramer is also warning that the potential for escalating premium pay to meet workload requirements will still present a significant financial risk to the budget.

Mayor John Tory has responded to the request as well as concerns from people calling for defunding, saying various changes are being implemented as to how policing is done in this city.

“So for example, the City will start this year, 2022, a program to have non-police mental health professionals go to help certain people in distress, the police themselves are applying some of that very same budget increase to dramatically increase the number of mentally health trained people on the police service so they can handle those kind of calls differently. We’re expanding the community officer program, we’re devoting as many people have asked us to do, more resources in the form of an 18-person unit specifically for traffic enforcement,” Mayor Tory detailed on Wednesday morning.

Mayor Tory insists that the core mandate of Toronto Police, to keep the city safe, will be upheld.

The City’s budget goes to full Toronto City Council for approval next month.