A clear blue sky and warm weather was a welcome change for many Calgarians after weeks of storms and rain—but although the weather had cleared, another storm was brewing.

A trio of armed kidnappers holed up with a pair of hostages prompted an immediate response by the Calgary Police Service’s Tactical Unit.

The call for service would see a flyby of the CPS aerial unit, as officers were dropped off mere metres from the door where the kidnappers lay in wait.

Stealthily, an explosive charge was placed onto the door, and within seconds smoke filled the living room, followed by tactical unit officers who exchanged brief bouts of gunfire with the kidnappers.

All three secured alive, along with the two hostages, who despite the ordeal, were no worse for wear.

Thankfully, that Aug. 6 incident was just for show, with CPS putting on a demonstration of how their officers address highly volatile, dangerous situations as part of the 50th anniversary of the tactical unit’s formation.

“There’s a lot of misnomers and misconceptions on what we actually do, and makes us seem unapproachable. What we want to show with the community is that we’re here for them, and really we pride ourselves on resolving calls peacefully. That’s our first priority,” said Acting Inspector J.F. Dery, commander of the CPS Tactical Unit.

The demonstration, held at the YouthLink Calgary Police Interpretive Centre, was a little more Hollywood and a little less real life. A/Insp. Dery said the demonstration helped to break down the wall of secrecy around the unit and the daily work that they do.

“We’re trying to connect to the public, because we typically, you know, there’s a lot of secrecy to our calls, and sometimes there’s a lot of privacy issues and stuff that investigatively need to be kept secret,” Dery said.

“We don’t typically advertise our calls. You don’t really hear about them as much as other calls that are not bread and butter, but that are day to day. So, I think this is kind of the the way to kind of bridge that gap.”

That day-to-day involves the Tactical Unit being called to crises anywhere from once to five times on a busy day. The latter puts a lot of pressure on officers, who maintain the standard police rotation of four days on, three days off, but are also on call 24-hours per day for three weeks, with one week off.

Not that the commitment detracts from interested officers joining the unit. A/Insp. Dery said that for every position that opens up, there are multiple applicants—sometimes as many as a six to one ratio.

Black Friday leads to formation of Tactical Unit

On Dec. 20, 1974, a shootout between Philippe Laurier Gagnon and the Calgary Police Service left one officer dead, Detective Boyd Davidson, and another seven shot.

That tragedy, which became known as Black Friday in Calgary, played a pivotal role in the formation of the Calgary Police Service Tactical Unit.

Tara Robinson, Executive Director of YouthLink Calgary Police Interpretive Centre, said that centre did a documentary on Black Friday and discussed it as part of the exhibitions.

She said that the centre wanted to do something more to honour the unit’s 50th anniversary.

“We wanted to collaborate with the Tac Team to create a really wonderful family friendly event where people could get up close and personal with a unit that they don’t normally get to see, except for on the news, or when something tragic happens in their area, or something dangerous happens in their area,” Robinson said.

“These Tac officers really love this city, and they love serving the city, and to be able to interact with families and kids and show the tools of the trade show how they keep the community safe. They’re almost having as more as much fun as the families themselves.”

Part of the desire to hold an open day, was to allow citizens to see the unit’s grenadiers, bomb technicians, and snipers up close.

Robinson said that there was a desire on the part of YouthLink, and CPS, to help dispel any misconceptions about the police from a young age.

“Any exposure to police officers at a young age helps to build trust and build connection with the police officers, because the police officer uniforms are a little scary. They’re a little intimidating. But we what we what we talk to families about and the kids about it,” Robinson said.

“They’ve got all these tools of the trade on the uniform, but their most important tool is their ability to communicate and de-escalate and and the Tac Team comes in and deals with the most dangerous situations. They’re the most highly trained in the service. So, I know that if I was in trouble, I would want the Tac Team coming to coming to help me.”

A/Insp. Dery said the training is something that the members of the unit take pride in.

“People think, well, maybe it’s just shooting and running and doing things like that. But actually, case law, the educational piece on the other side is as important, because we don’t want to be risking a serious investigation. If we make a mistake, it could cause that investigation not go forward,” he said.

“I think for us, that’s how we pride ourselves on just putting professionals across the board on everything.”

Dery said the thing he enjoyed most about being on the Tac Team, was protecting Calgarians.

“Personally for me, it’s arresting people that need to be arrested, and protecting the community. I mean, that’s why most people want to become police officers and police women,” he said.

“But honestly, it’s a pretty good, cool place. You get to do the best training, you get to travel. You get to train with people from the FBI, the ATF. You learn really cool things. If you’re a person that likes to do things, that likes to be adventurous, it’s all there for you.”

Robinson said the anniversary demos and meet and greet held by YouthLink was a continued part of the museum’s efforts towards engaging the public through history of CPS, learning about community policing, and engaging in crime prevention.

“We want to give you an inside look of what Calgary police officers do, and this falls under our community policing pillar, where we invite the public in to meet Calgary police officers. We show the public what Calgary police do in different ways,” she said.

“We’ve got the canine unit doing demonstrations. We’ve got the Tac officers doing them. We have true crime nights. We’ve got a true crime speaker series coming up in January. So, it’s just to give you a behind the scenes look at what Calgary police do in a way that you’re not going to get it anywhere else.”

Photos from the 50th anniversary of the Calgary Police Service Tactical Unit