Police chief says more officers expected on Calgary streets next year

There could be more provincially funded officers in the city by next year, according to Calgary's police chief, as he said he expects a deal will soon be finalized to get provincial money.

Police Chief Mark Neufeld said Tuesday that officers will be earmarked for transit, downtown and crime "hot spots" around the city.

This comes amid ongoing budget adjustment discussions that have the potential to increase homeowners' property tax bills by 7.8 per cent.

The provincial government announced earlier this year that it would provide money for 50 new officers to Calgary and Edmonton.

Speaking to city council Tuesday, Neufeld said he anticipates half of the officers will be hired in the first quarter of 2024 and the second half would be hired by the second quarter.

"But all of that is, of course, contingent on being able to get the agreement down and having sustainable funding for the officers going forward," Neufeld said.

Arthur Green, press secretary for Public Safety and Emergency Services, said the province is working withthe City of Calgary, Calgary Police Commission and Calgary Police Service to finalize a funding agreement that will support the hiring and onboarding of 50 new front-line officers in Calgary.

Calgary police are not seeking additional funding from the City of Calgary beyond what was secured last year, but Neufeld highlighted what he called a changing environment post-pandemic.

"We've got protests going on in the city every weekend and multiple times through the week. It's costing us a considerable amount of money because we don't have resources dedicated to dealing with protests specifically," Neufeld said.

"In the long haul, if that's going to be the future in terms of society's way of making change and getting their voices heard, and to the extent that there's going to be counter-protests and the need for police on scene of those, we're going to have to look at a different model for how we staff that because we are seeing changes as well."

City administration has recommended 28 items for city funding with proposed investment in three main areas: transit, housing and public safety.

The Calgary Fire Department is seeking additional funding for next year to introduce a second medical response unit downtown. The medical units use a smaller vehicle and respond with two firefighters.

Calgary Fire Chief Steve Dongworth said the existing medical unit is responding to a massive increase in overdoses. The department is asking the city for an additional $3.4 million in funding to implement a second response unit.

"Now we see the growth is so explosive in medical call volume downtown. The best impact we can have on service for citizens is to put it in the downtown core," Dongworth said.

"We've experienced probably over a 400 per cent increase in overdose poisoning kind of calls between 2017, 2022. And that just continues this year, that the curve is steepening."

Tax shift

Councillors are looking at a number of funding recommendations from administration this week, and the city is looking at shifting some of the property tax burden from businesses to homeowners.

Data pulled by city administration shows how Calgary stacks up compared to a selection of Canadian cities and other communitiesin Alberta. On the residential side, the data shows Calgary at the lower end of municipal property tax paid per $1,000 of assessed value.

The data also shows non-residential property taxes are on the higher end in Calgary, behind Edmonton and Ottawa.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek has said businesses are strugglingand action needs to be taken.

"I think you will see businesses shutting their doors. You will see businesses that can't keep the number of employees they have employed. And let's not forget, 95 per cent of the businesses in our city are small businesses of less than 50 people," she said.

But Coun. Jennifer Wyness said Calgary is still a good place to do business, and homeowners can't handle the shift.

"Inflation is still crushing us. Food prices are going up, families are struggling, we need to stay focused on that," said the Ward 2 representative.