The Calgary Police Service (CPS) is looking for a tweak to its 2026 budget this year, with hundreds more officers sought in the upcoming four-year budget.
Calgary police Chief Katie McLellan and Calgary Police Commission Chair Amtul Siddiqui answered questions from council on Nov. 26 as part of the 2026 budget deliberations, underscoring the need for more front-line officers as the city grows.
The proposed net operating budget in City of Calgary documents is $613 million, up from $541 million in 2025. There are $59 million in adjustments to accommodate the removal of fine revenue (including the loss of $28 million from automated enforcement removal by the province), added cash for the helicopter maintenance reserve, vehicle capital reserves, and return to work support, mechanics and employee benefits.
There’s also $10.2 million more needed for capital expenses, including facility upgrades, which include two roof replacements.
This year’s proposed budget includes the hiring of an already approved 21 new officers.
Chief McLellan said that though Calgary’s Crime Severity Index, a Statistics Canada-compiled number that tallies violent crimes and arrests, is going down, it’s because of the good work that’s going on right now. Calgary is sitting at 63.3 and the national average is 77.9.
“We are doing the best that we can with the limited resources that we have,” she told councillors.
“But there’s a lot of covert work, there’s a lot of intelligence work, there’s a lot of proactive work in those areas.”
Upon questions from Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal, around the reluctance of Calgarians to call for police help, Chief McLellan said they’re well aware of the conundrum.
“We know that there is more crime out there, but people are not calling us because we don’t have enough people to respond to them,” she said.
“As I said, we can only respond to a limited amount of calls with the resources that we have.”
More resources are required for the next decade of policing; CPC Chair
Chief McLellan said that the 2026 Calgary budget ask is geared towards maintaining the status quo and focusing on getting people who are under accommodation back to full-time work.
Further, she said that one of the big issues with recruiting and training is the lack of a suitable gun range. The City of Calgary added funding last year to cover the cost of the gun range.
“There’s only a certain amount of days, so we’re only able to put through… a limited amount of police officers,” she said.
“The new range that we hope will become operational, first quarter of 2027, we will be able to, in fact, put through additional recruits.”
They hope to start bringing those additional recruits online with the start of the 2027 to 2030 four-year budget. They estimate the addition of 660 officers over that time, noting that they expect 90 officers lost to attrition each year.
Calgary Police Commission (CPC) Chair Amtul Siddiqui said that they’ve always been truthful with council about the need for additional resources at CPS.
“At times we were also trying to be very good community citizens with everything, all the other demands that were happening in the City of Calgary,” she said.
“We always came forward with very realistic numbers that we could but as the population has grown significantly, especially over the last couple of years, that’s where we’re seeing an explosion of needs, and that we don’t have enough resources.”
Siddiqui said that over the next six to nine months, CPC and CPS will bring forward more exact numbers on officer requirements for the next four-year budget.
“Even today, there was a lot of commentary about needing extra resources in terms of when it comes to front-line policing, but also the support pieces that are required for those officers,” Siddiqui said.
“When we come and ask for the four-year ask, it’s not really looking at just the next four years, it’s looking at the next decade of policing in Calgary and what’s required for the city.”
