Calgary police try to cope with more budget cuts

Dealing with a rise in gun violence, stolen vehicles and break ins, the police chief says they have no choice but to pull officers from the frontline with recent budget cuts. Why police say they won’t be able to keep up with crime.

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – The Calgary Police Service is still trying to figure out how the city and provincial budgets will impact them.

The Alberta budget will reduce their funds by over ten million dollars, largely due to the amount of money the province will take in from fines.

The police say they remain focused on public safety no matter what.

Chief Mark Neufeld says they were able to manage a loss of seven million dollars from the city but these new cuts will directly impact things like prevention and community engagement.

The largest part of their costs are personnel and Neufeld says nothing can change there as the salary issue is contractual so that’s not something they’re able to just do, that’s not a lever they can pull.

However, the service is cutting back on recruitment, which is a problem as they lose upwards of 60 officers a year due to attrition.

Neufeld calls it ‘a collective diminishment of capacity.’

Neufeld and other officers told the police commission how they manage to do what they can, but there is also some emerging concerns around a rise in shootings and drug issues.

Acting commission chair Bonita Croft says they have until the city budget is finalized in November to really figure everything out, but Calgarians should know.

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