More than 200 charges laid in undercover sting by Calgary police

Calgary police say more than two dozen people are facing charges in connection with an undercover operation into drug trafficking at CTrain stations.

Between Nov. 28 and Dec. 8, undercover officers were set up in the Marlborough, City Hall, Chinook, Rundle, Eighth Street, Sunalta, Whitehorn, Westbrook and Heritage LRT stations.

These officers intercepted 40 drug purchases, which led to 27 suspects being arrested.

Police say 212 criminal charges were laid in the operation.

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“What happens when we have peace officers and police officers on transit, you're engaging the people that are there and you find pretty quickly that there is some people who are vulnerable, and some people are criminals,” Chief Mark Neufeld told CTV News on Wednesday.

“Some people are there to prey on the vulnerabilities that the drug addictions and stuff of others, and that's hard for uniformed members to be able to deal with that, so what they do then, is the people would keep coming back and we have information that they're selling drugs, we target those people.”

The operation was set up in response to a recent townhall meeting where residents said they were concerned about increased violence and drug use at CTrain stations.

“There's been times when people are just really intoxicated on drugs and you don't know what their mentality is or what they're going to do,” said transit rider Kim Jeffrey.

“So it is scary at times.”

Jeffrey says she says more security or police presence is needed on platforms, to help deter crimes from being committed.

“I seen a girl passing out and I thought she was gonna die.“

But for Dorin Bedward, he says transit has become safer in the last 12 months.

“It normally gets bad at nighttime, but the mornings have been a lot better than they were last year from what I remember, so that’s good,” he said.

“I find it weird that they don't have the CTrain cops on anymore. They only have security now. So I wonder why the city chose to do that.”

In addition to the arrests, police say they seized several weapons, including an axe, 15 knives, five cans of bear spray, three batons and two Airsoft pistols.

“Now that's a problem for all of us in the big city,” said Neufeld.

“We know we have a large transit network in Calgary and in a big city, we need that and more investment to come around the Green Line. But everything that sort of happens in terms of the millions of people that move around on transit each year, whether they're residents or visitors is predicated on a feeling of safety.”

While the suspects arrested are all facing charges, officials recognize that many of them are suffering from addiction.

Marcia Gonder, deputy chief of transit public safety, says the city works with its partners at Alpha House, to help get the support of those most vulnerable on c-train lines.

“After they get them to the outreach services, they help them afterwards in a case management piece,” she said.

“Then they assist them to remove the barriers, so that they can help them transition into a different lifestyle, if that's something that they're wanting to do.”

Some of the supports include shelter, treatment, employment and even transporting some to agencies and hospitals for support.