Contrasting murder rates for Calgary and Edmonton
Posted Jan 2, 2012 7:52 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
In Calgary due to the lower murder rate, police have had a chance to reexamine cold cases.
The city recorded 11 homicides in 2011, a reduction from previous years, giving investigators time to focus on unsolved murders.
The Herald reports, during the first six months of 2011, police identified suspects in three cases from the previous year, including the random beating death of Mark Mariani.
Calgary police laid charges in seven of the eleven murder cases from last year so far, something the provinces Lieutenant’s Governor Don Ethel credits to the number of police on the ground.
Meanwhile, The Canadian Press reports, Edmonton’s police force will be expanding it’s homicide unit in 2012 following a record breaking number of homicides in the province’s capital.
Edmonton capped off 2011 with 47 homicides, the highest number the city has ever seen.
They even had the highest number of murders in the country, something Chief Rod Knecht hopes isn’t the new normal for the city.
“We will be in real trouble if in 2012 we have the same numbers we have in 2011 because our folks are stretched to capacity right now,” he says.
The Chief says seven to 10 officers will permanently join the 16 member homicide unit this year.
