Some Calgarians feel unsafe, perceive crime increase downtown

Some Calgarians say they are starting to feel unsafe in the city’s downtown core and believe there’s been an increase in crime, after a series of random violent attacks and bump in property thefts, but police say the numbers aren’t pointing that way yet.

Several people who spoke to CityNews say they feel unsafe on city streets, especially when travelling downtown.

“I don’t really like travelling alone, especially at night,” one woman said. “But I have to get places, and I don’t have a car so I have to take public transit. I don’t feel as safe as I used to.”

Police say while it may appear as though crime is getting worse, data shows it’s only a rise in the number of incidents, not an increase in the severity of the crimes.

Downtown residents also say they have noticed a shift in crime in the area, especially as pandemic restrictions have eased and more people are out and about.

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“Personally I don’t feel threatened too much,” one man said. “But I can see how other people would be.”

Police Chief Constable Mark Neufeld says Calgary is seeing more incidents of crime as the city reopens and things get back to normal.

“I think that with vulnerable folks wanting to get out of shelters because of COVID and for their own safety, we ended up with a lot of disorder out on the streets,” Neufeld said. “That was very obvious in ways that it had never been before.”

Neufeld says police have increased their presence and are working on patrolling more during off-peak hours. He says police are following the data and showing up to places at times when they’ve seen more incidents on average.