More than half of Calgarians feel less safe now than in 2019: poll

A majority of Calgarians say they feel less safe now than they did in 2019, according to a recent poll conducted by ThinkHQ Public Affairs.

Fifty-three per cent of Calgarians said they felt less safe than they did pre-pandemic, compared to four per cent who felt safer and 42 per cent who felt about the same.

Almost half (48 per cent) said they felt crime is high in Calgary, compared to 12 per cent who believe it's relatively low.

Women were more likely than men to feel safety has declined, with the number growing with age.

Women were more likely than men by 53 to 43 per cent to believe crime is high.

Northeast Calgarians, at 57 per cent, were most likely to say crime rates are high.

"I was quite surprised that over half of Calgarians are feeling less safe than they were three years ago," said ThinkHQ president Marc Henry. "That to me is a red flag for policy makers.

"You've got almost half saying it's gotten worse over the last few years – but when you have over half saying you know what? I actually feel personally less safe in my own city than I did three years ago, that's a problem."

Henry adds that there wasn't a notable surge in crime rates in the first two years of the pandemic, but there has been a surge this year. The COVID-19 situation has contributed to mental health, addiction and financial challenges for some, which is likely driving criminal activity and social disruption.

He says the perception of what policy makers are doing is as important as what they're actually doing because public safety is at the top of the list of concerns and perceived responsibilities, particularly for municipal politicians.

"It's one of those things you really can't ignore," he said, before listing the main areas of concern for civic politicians.

"Water, sewers – and cops," he said. "Public safety. I think any members of council who are thinking about defunding the police might think twice knowing where the public is on this."

The survey of 1,172 adult Calgarians was conducted between Oct. 17 and 20 in Calgary proper.

It was weighted to reflect gender, age and region of the Calgary population according to Statistics Canada. The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of this size is +/- 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The poll was commissioned by ThinkHQ Public Affairs.