'I don't feel great about it': Calgary police chief reflects on 97 shootings

Calgary's chief of police addressed the city's recent gun violence on Wednesday, admitting the amount of shootings so far this year is "fairly unprecedented" and "problematic."

Calgary police say there have been 97 shootings so far this year, already more than the 95 recorded in 2021.

Mark Neufeld, who was speaking at a provincial funding announcement, said he had been giving that number – 97 – a lot of thought.

"I don't feel great about it because of course I have the opportunity to see and hear first-hand the impact of these incidents on the community, on individuals and also our officers."

Neufeld says 46 is the smallest number of shootings we've had in Calgary in the past five years, recorded in 2018, while the highest was 112 in 2020.

"As we've seen lately, violent crime has heavily taxed our police services, resulting in significant impact on resources. These types of crimes also impact other first responders, who have a hand in those types of responses.

"Even as we continue our suppression and investigation responses to crimes that have already taken place, I can tell you that we will continue to be committed to crime prevention and to working with our partners in our community."

Since Thursday, there have been two fatal shootings in Calgary.

Neufeld says large cities are always going to see a certain level of violence, but there seems to be a spike gun violence across Canada, including here in Calgary.

"There does seem to be an increase in firearms. To date, we've seized 303 guns, which is consistent actually with what we've seized over the last number of years, but the year is not over yet."

"In terms of where the guns come from, it's generally speaking about half-and-half guns that have been smuggled from the U.S. over the border – if we can tell, (because) there's time where serial numbers are ground off and you can't actually trace them – but in other cases its from break-and-enters where somebody's home has been broken into and guns have been safely stored (or not) and they've ended up falling into the wrong hands."

Lastly, Neufeld says guns are obtained through "straw buyers" who legally and lawfully purchases weapons for people who aren't supposed to have access to them.

While Neufeld said the province's Wednesday announcement of a $5.2 million Crime Prevention Help grant won't necessarily have an impact on the current gun violence in Calgary, it could go towards some recommendations from the public safety task force that were never initiated due to a lack of funding at the time.

Kelly Sundberg, a criminologist and associate professor in the department of economics, justice and policy studies at Mount Royal University, says the grant is a “good addition to the toolbox for addressing crime” but more needs to be done to combat the recent rise in shootings.

“There is a need for some creative thinking around how can we co-ordinate policing services, law enforcement to address this immediate issue of firearm violence in the city,” he said. 

'IS THAT THE CALGARY YOU WANT?'

"On the way over here I was thinking of a number. That number was 97," said Mark Gerlitz, the director of Calgary Crime Stoppers, at Wednesday's announcement.

"As of yesterday, that's how many shootings have occurred in Calgary, and it's still August. Not Los Angeles, not New York (City) – but Calgary. Ninety-seven.

"Ask yourself, is that the Calgary you want?"

Gerlitz says the grants announced Wednesday will be vital to organizations like theirs.

"Achieving successful crime prevention requires a strong partnership between government, police and the community. The community portion is often represented by not-for-profit, volunteer organizations, like Crime Stoppers and the Alberta Community Crime Prevention Association, and others.

He noted organizations have been hit hard by an economic downturn that started in 2015, COVID-19 and record inflation.

"Without government funding, some of these organizations might not be around next year.

"Prior to the recently-announced Alberta government funding, Crime Stoppers was an at-risk organization. Crime Stoppers still has funding and volunteer challenges, but at least will be able to continue to provide our programs for the next several years thanks to the funding."