A new report from the Calgary Police Commission has identified a number of issues residents are concerned about when it comes to safety in the city.

The document, released on Friday morning, came from a group of citizens engaged through an online forum environment in an attempt to identify some of the factors that resulted in a drop in a perception of safety in the CPC’s last citizen survey.

The results from the 2016 survey indicated that the percentage of residents that perceived Calgary as a safe place to live dropped to 53 percent from 55 percent in 2015. The perceived change in crime rate jumped to 49 percent from 37 percent in 2015.

Brian Thiessen, chair of the CPC, said that unlike previous years, a smaller group of just over 100 people was engaged in the forum.

“This year, we measured success from the quality of responses and the depth of information gathered. We know we have engaged enough people when common themes start to appear. Unlike previous years, we can’t project those on the entire population of the city, but we do have a snapshot of perspectives on a diverse group of Calgarians.”

The report released on Friday said that the perception of an increase in crime and the greater likelihood of criminal activity can be connected to the continued economic downturn in the city.

Factors such as increased unemployment, homelessness, gang activity, poverty and racial conflicts are all connected to more desperate behaviour and a sense that city safety is on the decline.

Those that participated in the community consultation feel less safe in a number of areas of the city, the report found, including:

  • Downtown core, East side, East Village and Beltline particularly at night
  • Areas in District 4 and 5 including:

-   Marlborough and Marlborough mall
-   Whitehorn
-   Castleridge
-   Falconridge
-   Rundle
-   Pineridge
-   Penbrooke
-   Forest Lawn
-   Dover

The CPC report also identified areas of concern at LRT stations including riding the LRT at night, near the Drop-In Centre and Alpha House and homeless camps set up along the Bow River.

The commission says that gangs and drugs are often the principal reasons behind property and person crimes and respondents said that if the Calgary Police Service can do more to combat those issues, those crimes would be prevented.

Calgary Police Chief Roger Chaffin says that he found that the forum helped identify a number of issues the service needs to address that will be very important as they move ahead with budget discussions.

He also said that report helped show him how much Calgarians understand and recognize the work the service does.

“Sometime the most difficult circumstances, as we’ve talked about many times before, our service is stretched very thin to meet the requirements of Calgarians and hearing Calgarians say ‘they get it’ and want to work with us further down the road is important to us. I think the opportunities for us to be visibly present come out of this survey; that Calgarians like to see us in their perception of safety and largely built on our presence, the ability to communicate with us and talk to us and work on problems together.”

A full report is available on the Calgary Police Commission’s website.