Our Speaker, Steve Barlow

 

 

 

 

Madeleine King introduced our speaker, Acting Chief of the Calgary Police Service Steve Barlow who spoke on the significant challenges being faced by the CPS and all police forces across North America. He began by relating the results of a recently commissioned customer satisfaction survey in which 94 per cent of the respondents indicated it is very important that the citizenry feel secure, 91 per cent were somewhat or very satisfied with the CPS, and 97 per cent felt the city should be increasing its investment in policing. Although the percentage remains high, the CPS has noted that results do show some deterioration in the perception of the CPS since the last satisfaction survey. The CPS is working hard to maintain and improve its performance rating.

 

Mr. Barlow noted that calls for service to the CPS are constantly on the increase. Although the rates for major calls are fairly steady, calls to CPS for social disorder have increased. This is largely to be expected in cities when their populations exceed one million.

 

He also provided a breakdown of trends seen in various types of crimes. He indicated that despite the attention paid to the opioid epidemic, the real escalation has been in the illegal use of marijuana and methamphetamine. Related to this has been the explosive increase in vehicle thefts. Increasingly, these stolen vehicles are used to commit more serious crimes, such as breaking into stores. Vehicles dating from the 1990s are most commonly stolen, as it is harder to steal vehicles from newer model years. In addition to the increase in drug related crimes, sexual and family violence and economic crimes are also increasing.

 

The CPS is working hard to stay on top of all of these developments as it continues to build its capability to maintain its citizen to officer ratios. Following a lively question and answer session, Doug Webb thanked our speaker.