Cops being redeployed to battle crime in Calgary's core

Police officers will soon be redeployed from other parts of Calgary to help tackle a spike in crime downtown.

That includes the area near the supervised drug consumption site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre in the Beltline.

There has been an increase in crime and social disorder near the site which opened in the fall of 2017.

But the police say the entire downtown is a crime hot spot, not just the area near the Chumir.

The plan was laid out by the leadership of the Calgary Police Service on Tuesday during the monthly police commission meeting.

Insp. Rob Davidson, who is in charge of District 1 which includes the downtown, said a sergeant and 10 officers will be coming from other districts to help take on the problems in the core.

He said officers will also be redeployed within District 1 to help put more pressure on those who are selling drugs to people near the supervised consumption site and those committing break-ins in the area.

Not just sentinels

Davidson said he expects the officers will be active, not just standing guard over Central Memorial Park.

"What we are not hoping to achieve is a sentinel-type presence where a police officer is standing on a street corner, not engaged in police work. What we're looking for is moving in the community, engaging with the community, moving into areas that may not be as visible." 

The additional officers for the core will be working when crime statistics show they're needed: weekdays between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Davidson rejects the notion that they'll be targeting the people who are using the consumption site. Rather he said the focus will be on those who are preying on those people by selling them drugs as well as anyone who is responsible for committing crimes and social disorder in the core.

Acting police chief Steve Barlow agrees. He said some undercover police work near Central Memorial Park, which is across the street from the Chumir Centre, has already put a dent into drug trafficking there.

Protection, not stigmatization

If people who visit the consumption site aren't committing any crimes, he said the additional police presence should not stigmatize them but protect them.

"We want these people to be able to come to the site, use the site but I don't want people preying on them because they have to be in the area," said Barlow.

Members of the Calgary Police Commission raised no objections to the plan.

Commission chair Brian Thiessen said it's good that CPS is being pro-active in responding to the community's needs.

"I was very pleased to hear the service working on deploying additional officers to the area. I'm very pleased that they've developed and are enhancing their relationships with partners such as Alberta Health Services," said Thiessen.

"It's going to be a community solution. It will not be a policing solution but what CPS is doing very effectively is addressing the safety issues."

The redeployment of the police officers will start next week.

In January, the provincial government announced a $200,000 grant to Alpha House, a harm reduction facility, to create a Downtown Addiction Outreach Program (DOAP) team to help serve the Beltline.