POLICE ENDORSE CITY CORE PATROLS

Calgary police will start work on a downtown strategy -- including a
"rapid deployment team" -- as part of a crime crackdown in the core,
the mayor and police chief announced Thursday.

The team will be part of a co-ordinated safety program, with more
police, transit security, a downtown fire hall, and civic staff to
clean up litter and grafitti. It will funded out of the $25.7 million
in tax room the city grabbed after the province elected to collect
less money for education.

"We will be moving forward very quickly with a comprehensive plan
that addresses . . . public safety in the downtown," Mayor Dave
Bronconnier said after meeting for nearly an hour with Chief Jack
Beaton and Calgary police commission chair John Watson.

The move will boost the number of officers working the downtown to 30
from 12. The rapid deployment team will be dedicated to pursuing
types of crime deemed to be the biggest concern.

Exactly how it will work and the approach the police will take is
something to be worked out over the next month or so.

The announcement came after the mayor revealed last week his desire
to "clean up" the downtown, proposing a $15.7-million strategy that
includes $7 million for the police service.

Thursday's meeting is significant as it erases speculation police
officials may not buy into the plan.

While the city's politicians can direct funding towards policing,
under the Police Act it's up to the police commission and the police
chief to work out how it will be spent.

"There is no question we are all united and on the same page,"
Bronconnier said.

Added Watson: "The Calgary police commission is very pleased with the
mayor's focus on fighting crime and the additional funding that will
be coming to the commission. And we'll be working with the chief of
police to make sure that is spent well."

The mayor said he sees the rapid deployment team acting in a
co-ordinated approach with all city agencies to address hot spots or
issues that require special attention in the downtown, including
litter, grafitti, petty crime and harassment.

In time, he hopes the team will be available throughout the city.

"The downtown is the focal point of this plan and will remain so, but
it is not the only piece of this plan," Bronconnier said.

Beaton said he'll start work on putting together an implementation
strategy for the police commission. The chief, who referred to the
idea as a "district response team," said he hopes to have the plan
drawn up in about a month.

However, the chief stressed police have not been turning a blind eye
to downtown crime. He noted that in the past year police have
operated about a dozen drugs and vice operations in the downtown,
laying some 2,500 charges against 850 people.

"We're still one of the safest communities in Calgary, but we're not
without crime," Beaton said.

Talk at city hall of a police crackdown has raised concerns among
some homeless advocates. Dermot Baldwin of the Calgary Drop-In Centre
believes the problems in the core have been exaggerated for political purposes.

"On the surface, (a crackdown) will make people happier because they
feel safer because we've worked really hard at making them feel
unsafe," he said. "We've worked very, very hard at calling the
downtown people creeps and bums and addicts."

However, Beaton said he would "absolutely not" want to see a police
crackdown on the homeless.