Calgary Police Get 10 More Crime Fighters from City Budget

Budget tightening has become a way of life in Calgary over the past few years, but the police force has often risen above the cuts. The next four-year budget plan, however, still being debated by the Calgary city council, will only provide the Calgary Police ten more officers.

"What we have here is a very responsible volunteer citizen commission and a very responsible police service that said: 'Look, we have to balance just like everybody else does,'" said Mayor Naheed Nenshi. Calgary Police Chief Rick Hanson and other members of the Calgary Police Commission seemed to agree.

"We are using technology now to become extremely efficient," Hanson said.
"Some of our intervention programs are really starting to pay off. We're starting to see decreases in crime." Though he says more officers might be needed in two years if Calgary's population grows rapidly, the Commission and Hanson are confident that ten additional officers will help keep Calgary's already-low crime rate down.

Those officers will be coming on the street early next year to be able to deal with call-out issues and workload issues, so that's why we're confident in saying that in 2015, we can manage that with the positions allocated to us, he said.

As criminality in Calgary continues to decline and budget woes continue to be an issue, the police could potentially face increasing cuts in the future.