Calgary police chief highlights challenges in year-end interview
Mark Neufeld speaks to rising crime, budget cuts and staff morale as he looks to 2020
Amidst budget cuts, the legalization of cannabis, statistics that reflect rising crime and reported discord within the Calgary Police Service, police Chief Mark Neufeld is six months into a challenging gig.
In June, Neufeld was sworn in with a promise to refocus the force on both serving Calgarians and addressing their own conduct after allegations surfaced that CPS was a toxic workplace environment.
At the time, Neufeld pledged to "respond with hope, kindness and understanding to all that we bear witness to in service of Calgarians" and "extend that same compassion to the people we work with."
Neufeld spoke to The Homestretch and CBC Calgary News at 6 about his first six months on the job, the crime stories that made headlines and what CPS plans to do differently in 2020.
The interview has been edited for clarity and content.
Q: How would you characterize your first year on the job so far?
A: Any time you come into an organization from the outside, there's lots of work to do to get connected and sort of figure out how we do things around here, and I think I've been able to do that. It's been a very busy year.
Q: A Calgary mom has been charged after police received multiple tips from the public related to a live streaming video captured through an online gaming website. The woman is alleged to have assaulted her young son. How has policing adapted to new technology and social media? There's a lot of demands there.
A: There is. And, certainly, I think there was a real outcry with that — I started to hear about that story when it broke in the media … and people funnel that stuff to us. We've evolved, policing has evolved, to deal with this type of thing, and so it's not a stretch at all.
Q: Do you have the resources currently when it comes to cyber crime?
A: I think policing on the internet is still the Wild West, for the most part. I don't think there would be enough resources, actually, to investigate all of that. So, we actually are choosing to invest and put our resources in the prevention side of that; just trying to help people to be a little bit more astute — and to not take anything for granted — when they're getting these calls and getting these scams. Because, as you well know, a lot of times the offenders in some of these things are not local. They can be all the way around the world.
Q: Body cameras for officers were rolled out over the summer. What difference has that made?
A: Qualitatively, our officers have been very happy with them. I've seen a number of investigations where there has been evidence that has been useful, but we've got a plan to evaluate the use of them over time.
I think it's about adapting the system to these sorts of things, though, because we're still working with our partners at the Crown, and in the judiciary, to get that evidence in there as part of disclosure. There are still some hurdles with respect to that. But I'm confident that, certainly, once we get a little further down the road with this, we'll be able to see that the system's better off and there's some efficiencies that we gain as a result of this.
Q: When you took over the role of chief of the Calgary Police Service, you entered a workplace that was struggling to manage low morale, there were charges of harassment and bullying complaints. What's changed since you've taken over?
A: I think it was clear really early that wasn't going to be tolerated. And I don't think that anybody says they're going to tolerate that in the workplace, but I think that maybe there had been more latitude given than there should have been.
The nature of our workplace is busy, the work is complex, it's stressful, we've got a very diverse workforce — and I think all of that makes for the conditions where you can have conflict. And so, I think we need to do a better job managing this sort of thing.
I can tell you that as recently as this week, I've had the misfortune of having to relieve two supervisors from duty for allegations of bullying and harassment, and that's not a typical week. But I think, certainly, the workers are feeling like they can come forward, and this stuff is being taken seriously and we're dealing with it in the workplace. I think we're intervening in things sooner than we were before, trying to take a proactive look in some areas where we get wind that there are some issues. We get in there earlier, before conflict is entrenched, and I think we've had some successes with that.
So those would be a couple things I'd highlight.
Q: Crime in the city has increased because of the challenging economic conditions and drug use in Calgary. How do you tackle that when you're facing financial cuts and stagnant budgets?
A: The financial issues and the economic climate that we're in had been quite a distraction because, of course, we had the challenges of the provincial budget 2019, municipal budget 2019, and the municipal budget 2020. So it seemed like we had our head down, actually doing math a lot of the time, when we should have been focused on all of the demands that you're talking about that are out there.
I think we're actually in a good place now with the most recent decisions at city council. We can get on to the business that we need to be doing, to protect Calgarians and ensure wellness of the community — and so we're happy to do that.
Q: We've done a lot of stories in the past year about inner-city crime, in the Beltline especially, near the safe drug consumption site. What's the latest on that?
A: The numbers, in terms of crime and disorder, are certainly higher. We put an additional team in there of a sergeant and 10 officers — that was in response to some concerns from the community. I think that has been helpful, although it hasn't driven down the numbers. When you put the officers down there, they have more contact with the public and folks down there, so it actually artificially inflates the numbers.
But certainly, when we talk to the residents and the business owners down there, they feel a lot better with the officers down there. And again, I think what we're seeing down there is an outworking of the economic times. And it's a challenging environment, and I wouldn't say that that relief is in sight just yet, although I am buoyed by the provincial government's announcement of the 4,000 new treatment beds as part of a more comprehensive service and harm reduction model for folks struggling.
Q: We've also done several stories in the last year or so, speaking to members of the community in the northeast who are concerned about gun violence in that part of this city. How are you tackling that problem?
A: They are concerned and we've heard it, too. I'm mad about it, I've got to tell you. There's just too much of that going on. We've been fully engaged in that during the six months that I've been here and previous. But we're actually going back and looking at our strategy on that — what's been working for us, what hasn't been working, and what we need to do differently going into 2020 — because we need to bring those numbers down.
Q: What are your top priorities heading into the new year for 2020?
A: We've got a busy year right now, and as we go into 2020, we had some retirements at the senior level of the organization. So I'm in the process now of reconstituting that senior team. We are going to be looking at what those priorities ought to be, looking at the year that was, and then projecting into the year that is.
We're probably going to be looking at some organizational realignments with those priorities. And the other thing internally is that piece you mentioned earlier about the human resource reform; that's really important to us, and you'll see us continue down that road in 2020.
With files from The Homestretch