Victoria police chief Jamie Graham says that more mentally ill people on the streets as a result of local health funding cuts will impact policing. (CBC)

Police chief Jamie Graham is warning cuts announced this week to mental health and addiction services in Victoria will add to his force's workload.

Graham, who used to be Vancouver's top cop, has told his officers they will see more people in crisis on Victoria streets and they will be asked to do more as other agencies are cut back.

The Vancouver Island Health Authority announced earlier this week it is reducing the number of caseworkers and hospital beds for the mentally ill, among other cuts designed to trim $45 million from this year's budget.

Community agencies offering counselling and therapy also are losing funding from the health authority, while recent cuts to provincial gaming grants have left many scrambling for cash they'd been promised.

The health authority's director of mental health and addictions services, Alan Campbell, says the cuts won't imperil people with acute mental illness, but admits people with lesser needs will find it harder to get care.

In an internal memo, Graham says police are already swamped by the demands of people on the street with mental health or addictions issues.