MAYOR, CHIEF OUT TO FIGHT CRIME

Mayor Dave Bronconnier and police Chief Rick Hanson are meeting this
morning to discuss a strategy to combat gangs and violent crime in
the city, which has seen three men gunned down in public this month.

The mayor and chief have been meeting for the past six months and are
prepared to reveal plans to tackle what appears to be escalating gang
and drug-related bloodshed.

Police have requested funding for 400 more officers over the next two
years -- a move Bronconnier supports. Today's announcement is likely
to include a call for the provincial and federal governments to step
up with more help, along with policing strategies.

"We do need more police officers on the street," said Doug King, a
criminologist at Mount Royal College. "We need to increase the
physical presence of police in areas that are in crisis." The issue
of additional officers came to a head as recent high-profile crimes
grabbed headlines.

Gang and drug-related violence in Calgary has increased this summer,
with five men shot and killed over the past three months in their
cars or in front of homes. One was a high-ranking gang member,
another had been a gang member and a third was a convicted drug dealer.

Two young men shot in August were friends and while not gang members,
police are investigating whether they were victims of a long-running
feud between two local gangs.

Five men were shot and injured during the same three-month period.

Calgary has 159 police officers for every 100,000 residents, a ratio
lower than many other major Canadian cities, including Edmonton,
Winnipeg and Vancouver, according to a Statistics Canada study
conducted last year.

While the police service has seen an increase in the number of
officers it can hire, it has struggled in the past few years to keep
up with retirements and to put recruits into the new positions.

This year was the first time since at least 2005 that the department
has been able to staff a full complement of officers.

Ald. Diane Colley-Urquhart, who sits on the police commission, said
Hanson is right to be requesting additional officers.

"But I don't want people to have the false impression that putting
more officers on the street alone will solve the problem," she said,
adding that historically the province and the federal government
"have never funded police to the extent they need to be." Both
governments promised funding for more officers in their last budgets,
but what that means to Calgary hasn't yet been determined.

The provincial government will increase the number of police officers
in Alberta by 300 over the next three years.

It has funded 100 already, with Calgary receiving money for 41.

It has also committed to funding integrated police units to
investigate gangs and drugs, which Colley-Urquhart thinks is necessary.

"We have to recognize organized crime is not just a Calgary problem," she said.

The federal government has promised to spend $42 million for
additional police officers in Alberta over the next five years, but
details have yet to be determined.

Colley-Urquhart said the Calgary Police Service has been working
aggressively with the resources it has.

"I wish the public knew more and could know more about what's going
on behind the scenes to fight organized crime," she said. "I'm very
impressed by what's being done." The strategy for addressing violent
crime to be outlined today should be directed by the police chief,
King said, while the mayor's role is to champion the ideas and put
pressure on the provincial and federal government to deliver better
funding to the entire justice system.

"You can't play politics with criminal justice," he said.