Police reach out to people in homeless camps along Bow River

Operation Forbidden City is underway for Calgary police and while it may sound ominous, the ultimate goal is to help those living in homeless encampments along the Bow River.

Members of the Calgary Police Marine Unit have been using their time on the water to scour through the inner-city jungle that is the river shoreline for certain sites.

“We try to keep track of who is where, we’re concerned primarily with the ones that are dirty, drug use and that are attracting the elements of theft and other things that go along with encampments,” said Constable Chris Terner.

He and his partner Constable Matt Kuhnen started their trek up the north shore of the river towards 14th Avenue N.W.

It’s not long before we meet “Marty”.

He and his twin brother are originally from Nova Scotia, they camp out along the river to drink and escape from the pressures of shelter life.

Drugs and alcohol aren’t allowed in many of those situations.

“Being here is a way from (shelters) over there and it’s kinda being with myself again because over there we have so many people over there and you can’t be by yourself,” he said. “We have excellent officers of the law that come by and check on us to make sure everything’s okay.”

He prefers their visits because it keeps what he calls the crack users away from them as he tries to kick alcoholism.

Terner says there are two different types of elements they run into in their day to day work.

“They really range from being one end of the spectrum where they’re set up to camp and to kinda live and they’ll set up carpet, make book shelves and the guitar will be out and the fire pit will be around to the other end,” said Terner. “We see the propane tanks that have been emptied, we see the wire stripping, the drug use, the paraphernalia, a lot of other garbage associated with it so I can’t say there’s one that really strikes me but it really strikes me that there are two different groups of people who use it.”

Further up the river, we find “Jerry” whose been sitting in a camp watching it for his friend “Jamie.”

It’s not the Marine Unit’s first visit to this camp which is well hidden between the river and Memorial Drive. Constable Kuhnen has to ask him multiple times in regards to the whereabouts of his friend.

Jerry tells 660 NEWS that he comes down to the river to escape from his daily life.

“Back in 2015, I used to have a camp right here, probably I was there for 3 months with my brother,” he said. “It’s calm, peaceful, relaxful, it’s nice … better than the shelters because I just finished from getting sick over there.”

Just a few yards away from him and across the river at Prince’s Island, the situation gets worse in terms of how encampments rate.

We find one site littered with drug paraphernalia and garbage just steps away from the pedestrian pathway and hidden from sight.

“We’re about making sure these people know there are sources available to them and setting up with our partners from the city, from Calgary Bylaw to anybody else, to the DOPE team encampment guys that can try to help these guys maybe get their life back on track and find somewhere that might be more appropriate for them to live,” said Terner.

The unit makes it’s way back to Fort Calgary for one final check on someone these officers only know by reputation, in most circles he’s referred to as “Island Mike.”

The two men take the boat out of the water and launch it once again in a part of the Bow south of the Harvie Passage.

They’re heading for a piece of Crown land not far from Deerfoot Meadows.

The team disembarks and makes its way across the strip of land single file given some of the hazards that lurk beneath the tall grass.

“Island Mike’s” not home, but a small pile of what’s believed to be human feces greets the group as they enter his first of many encampments.

The site is littered with what he might consider treasure, while others would certainly call it garbage.

There’s a tent, lawn chairs, CDs, books, even emergency supply kits.

In one of his other camps further down the island, we find a large pile of wire that has been stripped of any copper.

First responders even caught up with him once with a raft made up of propane tanks trying to cross the river, many of those now litter the small strip of land.

“The resourcefulness of this guy, apparently he has a boat or waders that he uses, he’ll go to Superstore or wherever to pick up his lungs for the day and then he’ll go back to the island where no one else bothers him,” said Terner.

They’re currently looking at various scenarios to get him to clean up the area but it’s made difficult due to the fact it is provincially owned land.

In a small time frame they’re able to check on numerous sites, some still vacant because of how the river is running high and fast, the homeless can’t access them.

Their job may be far from done but that hasn’t discouraged the Marine Unit.

The constables who scour through the bush say they’ll continue to check up on these men along the shoreline in hopes of protecting the city’s most vulnerable and helping those who need it most.

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