25 new officers as Calgary police expands Community Engagement Response Team

The hope is to work alongside social service agencies to connect people with services and supports available for those experiencing homelessness and addiction.

Twenty-five new Community Engagement Response Team (CERT) officers are on Calgary streets in a continued effort to address social disorder in the city.

The Calgary Police Service (CPS) team launched in April focusing on transit lines and high system users. Data shows the presence of the officers is working, with transit related social disorder calls from the public down 42 per cent.

The hope is to take a proactive approach, working alongside social service agencies to connect people with services and supports available for those experiencing homelessness and addiction.

“Once we’re sure there’s not criminality involved (in the call), the clinicians are able to step in and talk about their addiction or mental health issue,” explains Superintendent Scott Boyd with CPS.

Officers are assigned a district to allow them to build relationships with the high system users in that area, but there are a higher number of patrols on transit.

“Those kinds of crimes, social disorder elements can be tracked on a hotspot map in accordance with CTrain lines,” says Supt. Boyd.

Boyd says the Chinook area is an example of where the program is working. It’s not a tradition spot for social disorder like the downtown core, but it has become a hotbed for crime.

Since April, CPS has been able to deploy CERT officers and has seen a reduction in both calls from the public and an increase in officer calls for service, cutting back on the average of 14 social disorder calls Calgary police receive each day.