Calgary Police chief ‘disgusted’ by recent violence

With reports of another stabbing in Calgary Thursday, the city’s police chief is speaking out, saying he is “disgusted” by the recent string of violence.

“When we’re seeing bullet holes in areas of our city … we’re seeing incidents on our transit and other public spaces that are causing people to feel unsafe, causing people to feel like they cannot use transit infrastructure, causing people to feel like they can’t go downtown and engage in all of the things that they want and should do, that is a huge problem and that can’t be,” Calgary Police Chief Mark Neufeld said Thursday.

He is issuing a stern warning to criminals, saying police are “on this.”

“If you are involved in violent crime and you are bringing crime and harm and victimization to our city, you will be held accountable,” Neufeld said.

The latest incident came the same morning, when a man was stabbed on a bus in Calgary’s northeast.

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Officers say they received reports of the incident at around 9:30 a.m., noting a man and a teen got into an argument over loud music, which led to a fight, resulting in the man being stabbed.

A day prior, police said someone had been shot in a bus outside the Calgary Central Library. Also Wednesday, another person was shot in the Safeway Kensington parking lot and later died.

Neufeld says while these incidents are alarming, he is reiterating that Calgary is still a safe place to live.

“Statistically, we’re not seeing a big jump. As of today, we have 28 shootings in the city and that includes the one here last night. On this date last year, we had 48 shootings. So year-to-date, that’s a decrease of 42 per cent,” he said.

“One issue I think that we have definitely seen though is that a lot of the incidents that have happened in the city have been happening in public places, so they’ve been attracting, and rightfully so, additional attention and I think that’s driving some of the perception around what’s going on.”

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Related articles: 

• Man shot at Safeway Kensington parking lot, found dead in downtown Calgary

• Calgary shooting sends 1 person to hospital: police

• Stabbing on Calgary Transit bus sends 1 to hospital: police

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The police chief says what’s happening in Calgary isn’t isolated to the community, adding change will not come with the flip of a switch.

“This is a Canada problem, this is a big city problem,” he said. “Our city has experienced spikes in violence before, as you know. We’ve grappled with gang and gun violence in the past and on those occasions, we have come together and we have driven those numbers down. We will do that again.”

According to Neufeld, he’s had conversations with other police leaders across Canada who describe an increase in mental-health related calls.

The post-pandemic situation, which he says is complicated, appears to be “manifesting itself in public spaces,” Neufeld added.

Mayor supports efforts of Calgary police, wants fine revenue reinstated

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek took time out of a normally happy news conference on Neighbour Day to address the recent violence in the city.

“I want to express my support for the efforts of the Calgary Police Service,” Gondek said. “I reached out to the Chair of Calgary Police Commission to offer continued support from city administration as well as City Council.”

“I want to make it very clear that I unequivocally support the efforts of the police service.”

Gondek said the announcement from the province for funding for more officers will help with safety, but she reiterated her call for the province to allow more fine revenue to stay with the city.

“We continue to stress the fact that in 2019, fine revenue proportion went down for the city. And as a result, instead of being responsible for about 76 per cent of police funding, we’re now responsible for more than 80,” she said.

“So the city can’t continue to bear this burden.”

Gondek says the city has asked the province multiple times to bring back the fine revenue but hasn’t heard anything since.

Alberta shares fine revenue collected from traffic tickets and other fines with municipalities in the province for police funding.

However, the United Conservative government increased Alberta’s share of the revenue in 2019 from 26.7 per cent to now 40 per cent.

The revenue equals around $10 million, with the city making the difference for the Calgary police budget.