Police sweep Calgary’s downtown core, surrounding areas a 4th time

Calgary police and partners are lauding their latest sweep of the city’s downtown core and surrounding areas.

Wednesday saw another outing for Operation Order, pushing “targeted enforcement, increased visibility and outreach to support services.”

It’s been done multiple times in recent months.

Police offered the results of the previous day’s walkabout in a Thursday news release.

Police Chief Katie McLellan said the efforts have become “an important part of our public safety strategy.”

She said they “allow us to respond quickly, increase visibility and intervene where necessary while connecting people to supports.”

Thursday’s release says police attended 387 calls.

Six charges were laid against five people.

One hundred and forty-six summonses were issued, 280 warrants were executed, 520 proactive community engagements were made and 252 social support referrals were given.

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas expressed his pride in the local force and in Operation Order.

He called the semi-regular sweeps examples of “public safety and compassion working together to make a better city.”

Wednesday’s walkabout had police working with Calgary Community Standards, Transit Public Safety, Alberta Sheriffs, Alberta Health Services rapid-access paramedics, Recovery Alberta clinicians and outreach partners.

A semi-regular occurrence

In May, police said 421 total calls were attended, resulting in 10 individuals receiving 33 charges.

Officers also issued 327 summonses and executed 308 warrants, and performed 497 proactive community engagements and 215 social support referrals.

This past February, in a few hours, police attended 140 calls and charged six individuals with multiple offences.

They also made nearly 200 community engagements and referred 77 people to social supports.

And in November, police attended more than 200 calls and 25 individuals received 40 charges.

Two hundred and twenty warrants were executed, 217 proactive community engagements were made, 115 social agency referrals were given, eight InfoPosts were completed and 25 encampments were attended, six of which were cleaned up.

At that first sweep, McLellan said police would “continue to do this going forward.”

She said the first one was “not us just showing up and walking away and not coming back for months and months.”

She said it was “the beginning of what you will see to ensure people feel safe.”