By and large, statistically, Calgary’s downtown is getting safer with social disorder incidents and the number of crimes committed having decreased from 2023.

But for many Calgarians, double-digit drops in the number of calls made to police, fire, and EMS aren’t translating into a perception of the downtown becoming safer to work in or visit.

Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong, who represents the majority of downtown communities minus the Beltline, said that during the last three community meetings he attended over the first weekend in September, safety continued to be the number one concern.

“Coincidentally, all three of them asked that same question, and that is ‘how is Calgary is advancing our safety and security in the downtown core.’ Particularly that there’s concerns on the Riverwalk with different sort of events and incidences that people were concerned about,” he said.

Among the other incidents that Coun. Wong said were pointed out to him included a recent stabbing at the 8 Street SW LRT platform, and continual violence at the East Village Superstore against security staff.

“The question is being posed is on either end of the downtown core, do we have enough resources? Do we have enough attention, not only from a safety and security perspective but also addressing the social ills we’ve got there?” Wong said.

“Whether it be supports for mental health, drug addiction, homelessness, as well as being able to find supports for the different building owners, operators.”

Coun. Wong said that he asked City of Calgary Administration on Sept. 10, about the status of the Downtown Safety Initiatives during council’s question period to determine if enough resources were being allocated to downtown safety.

“We’ve seen improvements in terms of allocating budget resources, but those are the measures that our administration sees and recognizes. The public, the people who are walking the streets, riding the trains, people are looking out of their condominium windows, they don’t see those numbers, what they see is incidences,” Wong said.

During Question Period Tuesday, admin said that the city does expect to have 11 recommendations completed from the Downtown Safety Leadership Table by the end of the year, but had eight recommendations that remained unresourced by council.

Decrease in crime evident in statistics, but not always in public perception

Calgary Police Deputy Chief Chad Tawfik, who heads the service's Bureau of Community Policing, said that while individual incidents can and do occur in all major cities, the service's efforts as part of the Downtown Safety Initiative are resulting in lower crime rates and incidents.

"Certainly, the efforts that the downtown strategy and our District One members have been doing have, I think, had an impact locally. It does take some time for those perceptions to change, until people actually see things and feel safer in an instant. I think it takes that for them to really notice the difference," he said.

Community safety reporting done monthly as part of the Downtown Safety Initiative, showed that between April and July of this year, the number of calls for downtown safety response dropped from between 18.7 per cent in April, to a high of 34.5 per cent in June. May and July had 29.9 per cent and 28.7 per cent drops, respectively.

Those numbers represent the responses by the Calgary Police Service, City of Calgary peace officers, and private security guards and community partners.

"I think patience is really important. There's a lot of efforts being made by our members and by and other law enforcement and security professionals in the area to try and make it as safe as we can. Certainly, we don't like to see anyone confronted with violence in any moment. But, the quicker we can respond to it and deal with it, hopefully, we can make some gains in that area," Deputy Chief Tawfik said.

He said that the drop in the number of incidents is due to a multifaceted response that connects high system users with resources and supports, and expanding the number of engagement teams.

Community Engagement Response Teams (CERT), introduced in April of this year in CPS districts one, four, five, and six, are being expanded to the remaining CPS districts this week, said DC Tawfik.

Opioid calls are down, as are deaths, as positive calls for social assistance are up

Total call volumes to the Distress Centre for information on how to get help, have also been on the rise. Calls for services like information, financial assistance, and housing saw a 10.4 per cent increase in July year-over-year.

Other positive signs, like a considerable drop in overdose responses, have also occurred in the downtown.

Calls for Calgary Fire Department responses to overdoses fell by 52.9 per cent in July, which itself has been part of a larger trend that has seen above 60 per cent declines in responses since April.

That decline has left fire crews puzzled as to the source of the decrease, said Calgary Fire Chief Steve Dongworth.

"I'm certainly aware of the numbers. The why? I don't know, because our people are certainly seeing the drop in the numbers, but they're also seeing the same kind of issues still existing in no less volume," he said.

"Whether it means more people are getting help that's available now – hopefully that's the case. We'll have to wait and see also if it is a trend that will sustain. Often we see at different times of years we see different things happening. So, as we go back into the wintertime, will that will that change this? I hope not. I think it's a great trend—if truly, people are using opioids less, overdosing less."

The number of opioid deaths in Calgary, according to statistics provided by the Government of Alberta, fell to their lowest level since 2020 with 17 in May, reversing a trend that usually sees deaths increase into the warmer months of the year from January on.