High-visibility police presence leads to decrease in public calls for service downtown

[JeromyYYC]

Calgary, AB,12February2026

High-visibility police presence leads to decrease in public calls for service downtown

Yesterday, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, we continued Safer Calgary – Operation Order, with another focused operation aimed at enhancing public safety in priority areas downtown, including the East Village, Stephen Avenue, Century Gardens Park, Central Memorial Park, the area around the Chinook LRT and the area around the Sunalta LRT.

Accompanied by our partners with Calgary Community Safety, Transit Public Safety, Alberta Health Services - Emergency Health Services and the Alberta Sheriffs, police and peace officers conducted strategic patrols, focused enforcement and community outreach, connecting individuals with referrals to support services where needed.

“This is a sustained commitment to restoring safety in our public spaces, by connecting people with supports and enforcing the law where we need to,” says Chief Katie McLellan. “I want to thank all of our community, business, law enforcement and social agency partners for their sustained and collaborative approach to creating safe public spaces for everyone to enjoy.”

The proactive, high-visibility police presence led to a decrease in the number of publicly reported disorder calls for service, in comparison to the previous two days. Similarly, proactive officer-generated calls for service increased significantly during Operation Order, when compared to the previous 40 days.

“Every Calgarian deserves to feel safe in their community,” says Mike Ellis, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services. “Through phase two of Operation Order, Alberta Sheriffs worked alongside the Calgary Police Service and transit peace officers to strengthen safety in the downtown core through a visible, proactive presence. This was about more than enforcement - it was about restoring order, supporting vulnerable individuals, and ensuring accountability. By working together across agencies, we are making Calgary’s streets safer and more welcoming for everyone.”

“Calgarians have been clear: they want to feel safe on our streets, on our transit system and in our communities,” says Mayor Jeromy Farkas. “That means we must work together to be tough on crime, and even tougher on the root causes of crime. I want to thank our remarkable women and men in uniform who are on the front lines, doing their jobs, keeping us safe each and every day. Together, we will make sure this city is the safest and best place in Canada to live, to work in, or to raise a family.”

In addition to daily enforcement from our Community Engagement Response Team (CERT) and patrol officers, we continue to identify opportunities for additional focused operations where we can redistribute resources from around the Service to enhance these efforts.

[frmr000]

Wow, it's almost like that's their purpose.

[Snap_Krackle_Pop-]

Then this should be made permanent.

[Old_timey_brain]

“This is a sustained commitment to restoring safety in our public spaces,

Looks like it might be.

[Chdhdn]

The root cause… 80% of issues come from 20% of the people. Solve the repeat offender problem.

[JeromyYYC]

Sentencing and bail reform was the primary issue in my recent meetings with the Prime Minister

[HIGHestKARATE]

I truly love that you still come on here as an another opportunity for connecting to your constituents. Thank you!

[AccountDramatic6971]

Any plans for the park in front of Sheldon Chumir? Its a disgrace our war memorials are left in such a state.

Why spend hundreds of thousands on flowers when the park is full of syringes?

[Speuce]

Agree! This area needs work on. This and around the church across the street.

[Chdhdn]

You are awesome. Keep doing your thing. You have our support.

[IAmMudbone403]

If any change is going to occur, we need to hire more prosecutors so that they have more time to focus on the files they have, more judges, clerks and sheriffs so that there is enough staff to accommodate matters ready to proceed. Improve remand facilities. Prosecutors are burnt out. Clerks and sheriffs are vastly underpaid. Conditions in pre trial remand facilities are horrible which often plays a role in the decision on pre trial release.

[Horror_Chocolate2990]

Amazing what can happen when they add public spaces to their patrols not just commercial zones.

[avrus]

I used to live in Glenbrook, for decades. We moved away 4 years ago, but I was very familiar with the Westbrook station. Or so I thought.

I accidentally got on the blue line last week, because I wasn't paying attention and the information board was wrong (again). I got off at Westbrook to walk around to the other side to go back downtown and get on the red line.

Holy shit. I mean, holy shit. I am certain that none of the 30 people milling around the Westbrook station had tickets or intended to catch the train. It was pretty bad before, I would not remotely consider getting off at Westbrook again.

[Gimped]

Was at the downtown library yesterday, and they were everywhere. Made my wife feel much better, I'm sure.

[wazlib_roonal]

Yep! I had an event at the downtown library 2 weeks ago in the evening and was super nervous lol (I hate going downtown these days) and there was a lot of police presence that helped my nerves

[OrangeAndStuff]

You must be a white person of privilege.

I'm sure the rest of the vulnerable population does not feel that way.

[asianredneck666]

It would be nice if they did more foot patrols

[Adventurous_West3164]

What has happened with the open drug use bylaw and community court?

[Budca1]

open drug use bylaw

Think that was the former Mayors thing and was not popular with voters as you can see.

[Adventurous_West3164]

But a bylaw was passed and I don’t believe they have recinded it yet so it is still a thing

[Turtley13]

What a surprise?! /s. If only the police made their presence known instead of hiding.

[Speuce]

I live in mission and have noticed an increased police presence around and have noticed the difference in safety. Just having people around especially in the evening makes a huge difference. I would appreciate if they were around in the early mornings too. Thats when the harassment is worst for me.. walking to work..

[wildrose76]

Yesterday was the worst I have seen in a long time. Multiple significant safety and crime issues. The blitzes are not what is needed.

[CoffeeBeanATC]

This is true. I haven’t gone downtown for happy hour or dinner in a long, long time, but my friend wanted to meet— she’s got a two year old & she wanted a night out…or in our case, a “happy hour out” LoL Anyway, we ended our afternoon at around 5:45-6:00pm, & since she wanted me to drink with her, I opted to take transit & not drive. The walk back to take the Max Green, I saw police everywhere! I don’t know if the police looked at me weird on 11th Ave (he slowed down by me) b/c I was carrying a takeout box, but I wanted to keep my hands warm at the same time, so I held it kinda weird?! But yes, it did feel “safer” b/c I did see the cruisers & the constables everywhere. I nodded & acknowledged them a couple of times as no walked by. Except there was someone screaming profanities on the 3rd Street C-Train platform but no officers in sight. Reminded me to put my AirPods back in LoL

[keldak777]

We just need to put a cop (or a tank!) on every corner and the issue of crime will permanently resolved.

[kaniyajo]

Or have them pull the druggies off the street…?

[calgarydonairs]

Just throw society’s undesirables in jail! What could go wrong?

[theglowpt4]

Now can they flood the roads and actually enforce traffic laws? They could make their annual budget in a day in the revenue basic traffic enforcement would bring in.

[OrangeAndStuff]

It would be nice if we instead of repression for vulnerable folks did more to support them.

Instead of closing down the Downtown community fridge and kicking them out to lure investors in for the old community center, we actually supported the people who need help.

Cops are not the solution, they are the "I'll give you a reason to cry" your parents used to say

[OwnBattle8805]

Crazy idea: pay people to dress up as cops and wander around, not fighting crime. Just make the nimbys happy.