Since April 10, Calgary police have laid 391 criminal code charges for public transit related incidents alone.
The Calgary Police released a statement over Twitter on Wednesday with the update.
“Since April 10, officers have dealt with more than 1,600 calls for service on transit, 70% of which are officer on-view situations and 70 are weapons-related incidents. They have affected 55 arrest warrants and laid 391 Criminal Code charges,” the police account stated.
The number one reason for criminal code charges was for breach of a probation order.
Smith has attempted to clean up the city in recent months after a surge in random shootings and stabbings, in particular on public transit.
Mayor Jyoti “defund the police” Gondek blamed the surge on COVID, and refused to take any blame despite voting to defund the police in 2021.
Starting February 27, The Calgary Police Service (CPS) and Alberta Sheriffs partnered on a pilot project that saw 12 sheriffs deployed throughout the city, in an effort to reduce crime and help Calgarians feel safe.
Last month, Smith’s UCP mandated that all police officers wear body cameras in what they are calling a “paradigm shift.”
Smith also announced on April 4 that an additional one hundred police officers would be hired over the next 18 months to step up the police presence in Calgary and Edmonton.
Smith said over the past two years in Alberta, twenty-six homicides were committed by people on arrest or after arrest. She laid blame on the federal government’s “revolving door bail policy of catch and release.”
Alberta’s Justice Minister Tyler Shandro said recently that 4,200 violent offenders are “on the run” from police in the province.
