Police use of force incidents down in Calgary: report

Calgary police used less force during calls for service in 2024, a new report indicates. Mason DePatie reports.

New Calgary police data shows a notable shift in how often officers are using force in the city.

The data is from CPS’s annual use of force report, which will be presented to the police commission at its regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday afternoon.

The report found use of force incidents dropped by nine per cent last year compared to 2023 and are also down compared to the five-year average.

That’s despite a slight dip, just two per cent, in public interactions overall, suggesting officers are using force less often, not just seeing fewer people.

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Force was used in 818 cases out of nearly 575,000 contacts, or about one in every 700 interactions.

The report notes there’s also a decrease in disturbances, mental health calls and intoxication-related incidents.

Violent crimes, however, especially assaults and domestic violence, are on the rise.

There is also still concern around racial disparities, as outlined in the race data analysis also being presented to the commission on Wednesday.

Indigenous people remain overrepresented in police interactions, but the gap is narrowing from 3.8 times the population in 2018 to 2.8 in 2024.

The report found Indigenous people are more likely to be victims of assaults, robberies and sex offences and are twice as likely to be victims of a crime involving a weapon.

The police commission will also be discussing G7 policing ahead of the event next month.

The full meeting agenda can be found online.