After a two-week soft opening, the new District 3 Calgary Police Service (CPS) community policing engagement hub at the Bridgeland Riverside Community Association is now officially open for business.

The goal of the hub is to further break down barriers between Calgary Police Service officers and the community and to help ensure that more officers are spending time in the southern reaches of District 3.

CPS Acting Sgt. Anthony Thompson said that the model differs from the community safety hubs in the East Village and the Downtown Core, in that the public is invited to come and visit as opposed to being an operational hub for CPS and Calgary Bylaw officers.

“This is more of an extroverted concept, or an inclusive concept, in the sense of how the doors will be open and we’re accessible to the public… we are making ourselves really accessible to the public here,” he said.

The hub will be open to start every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and is accessible from the second-floor entrance of the community association.

A/Sgt. Thompson said that should the pilot prove to be successful and of interest to community members, then there is a possibility of expanding hours of access for the public.

Outside of those public hours, he said that officers would have a location that can be accessed for administrative or other tasks 24 hours a day.

“Presence is the overall strategy here. It’s not just our presence here that one day a week, but the fact that we’ve opened it up to our patrol members as well to touch down here, take care of some administration, have lunch, have washroom facilities, stuff like that,” said Thompson.

“The expectation from the community is that if one of our patrol members is parked here at anytime, they have the ability to come knock on the door and talk to one of our members and ask them anything. But we’re enhancing it as well with our dedicated presence here.”

Also differing from the safety hub model, is the ability for the public to engage with officers to file some types of complaints and reports. Members of the public will be able to speak to an officer, and if a report is too complex to be filed at the hub, they will be given resources and directions about how to approach the main District 3 office.