"Multi-pronged approach” needed for issues impacting downtown Calgary

A “multi-pronged approach” is needed to deal with issues impacting Calgary’s downtown core

Stephen Avenue in downtown Calgary. (Jeff Whyte/Shutterstock)

There’s going to be a higher number of police officers in Calgary in the next few months.

Speaking to City Council on the second day of budget week, Calgary Police Chief Mark Neufeld said he’s hopeful some of those officers will be in place towards the start of next year.

In total, the plan is for 50 officers to eventually be deployed.

In a statement sent to Daily Hive Urbanized, the Calgary Police Service (CPS) said that there is a plan in place to establish Public Space and Disorder Response Teams both in the Core and in the Districts of Calgary.

They’re meant to support public safety on transit and within downtown, and in what they called hotspot areas for social disorder that were identified through analysis and feedback from the Community Resource Officers.

“Planning has occurred and we anticipate deploying these resources in a phased approach over the first half of 2024 should the grant funding be provided,” the statement read.

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For some, however, it’ll take more than police officers and a larger presence of law enforcement to deal with problems impacting Calgary, and particularly the downtown core.

“You need the wraparound services. We need to be able to have places for individuals that are on the street sleeping rough,” said Mark Garner, the Calgary Downtown Association’s Executive Director.

“We need housing, we need supportive housing. We need detox.”

Once a bustling economic hub in Canada and the centre of the country’s oil and gas industry, the heart of the city emptied out due to a shift in working arrangements.

And things quickly changed.

“The social inequity issues that happened in our community, we’ve got a housing crisis, we’ve got [an] affordability crisis,” said Garner.

Garner said that there was a lack of places to put people during the pandemic. Due to capacity issues, some had to be released into the community.

“That created some issues in the downtown which I refer to is [the] perception of safety issues,” he said.

Although life has started to come back to the city’s core, concerns brought to light during those years linger on.

Homelessness is still an issue and crime in and around the CTrain and its platforms became, and still is, a frequent occurrence.

Calgary’s CTrain going past old City Hall. (City of Calgary/Twitter)

Business organizations have also expressed worries that members fear for the safety of their employees going to and from work.

So, what’s the answer? Even with more officers expected, Garner says it’s not straightforward. And policing alone is not the solution.

“It’s a multi-pronged approach,” he said.

“But, obviously, enforcement and increased visibility helps to address some of those things.”

CPS echoed that sentiment.

The organization said that an impact assessment on the provincial pilot project earlier this year involving sheriffs showed that the top issues identified both by statistical analysis and feedback from the public pertain to non-criminal matters such as suspicious people, unwanted guests, and check on welfare calls-for-service.

“This continues to be an issue that needs further involvement by social-sector partners to address, outside of a police response,” the CPS statement read.

“In the meantime, we continue to work with our partners at bylaw, transit and sheriffs, to provide coordinated enforcement efforts to address crime and social disorder in the areas of greatest concern across the city.”

In addition to the anticipated officers coming from the province, the Calgary Police Service is also adding 30 new positions including 22 officers and 8 civilian staff in 2024.

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