The Ottawa Police Service will bolster its front lines with 25 new officers in 2018, but it won’t be enough to keep pace with the demands of climbing gang violence and population rates, according to the president of the Police Association.

This year’s projected budget features a $12 million increase in frontline police operations, a 14 per cent rise from last year’s total, according to an analysis of city budget posted online. costs account for 82 percent of the force’s overall operating budget, and the hiring of the officers alone will amount to an estimated $2 million in additional frontline spending.

The new hires come at the end of a three-year staffing plan that will have seen a total of 75 new officers sworn in by the end of the year.

But according to Matt Skof, president of the Ottawa Police Association, these staff increases should be taken with a grain of salt.

“When [the city] says they’re adding 75 new officers … that’s misleading,” said Skof. “They’re really returning 75 new officers into the fold that they had already shrunk from the service.”

Between 2012 and 2015, the city tightened its belt on police deployment. Now, with demands on the force mounting, Skof claims the city is having to play catch-up. “By the end of 2018, we’ll be back to 2012 levels of staffing,” he said.

But things have changed since 2012. According to the latest census, the population in Ottawa has grown by nearly six per cent between 2011 to 2016. The 13 shootings in a vicious January have heightened concerns over gang-related gun violence.

To make matters more difficult, new policies have made the daily tasks of police officers more complicated. According to Skof, the time needed to complete calls has gone up exponentially since 2010. “What would have taken one or two hours is now taking four to eight hours,” said Skof. “So now we’re stretched even further.

Councillor Eli El-Chantiry, who chairs the police services board, was unavailable for an interview. In an emailed response, he pointed to programs included in the budget that were designed to take pressure off the front lines. One such program provides new Tasers for frontline officers (along with all-important training updates for their use). Another is the Direct Response Action Team (DART), which works to control Ottawa’s guns and gangs. The small unit will gain two of the 25 new officers this year.

Guns and gangs were the biggest issues on the table at Monday’s Police Services Board at City Hall. “The gun violence we have seen since the start of the year is our top priority,” said Chief Charles Bordeleau. On the weekend prior to the board meeting, frontline officers conducted more than 40 compliance checks and made 30 patrols of “problem addresses” linked to gang members, said Bordeleau.

Skof wants to see more of this preventative action, but is worried that resources are too thin to get ahead of gun violence on a regular basis. “To be proactive is one thing, but we’re not even being proactive. We’re reacting to gun crimes.”

Skof thinks a fundamental problem needs solving: budget limits need to be set with public safety in mind, instead of politics. Because fewer police calls were made, and crime rates decreased in recent years, the city could justify cutbacks, he said.

“That’s a myth, and again, it’s very misleading.

The violent Crime Severity Index went up by 15 per cent in Ottawa from 2015 to 2016. Nationwide, gang-related and shooting homicides have trended up in recent years.