Downtown police station being replaced by mobile policing unit

Calgary police will close the Victoria Park station this weekend.

After being debated by police management since earlier this year, it was decided Saturday will be the last day of operation for the downtown Calgary police station as service transitions toward a mobile — yet highly visible — presence in the core.

The move, which the police service said was prompted by efforts to improve financial and operational efficiencies, will result in the redeployment of officers posted to Victoria Park station — primarily members of the mountain bike team and downtown beat units — to the District 1 office on 26th Avenue S.E. in Ramsay.

In a statement released by Calgary police Thursday afternoon, the service said it intends to maintain a presence downtown by using a mobile station.

Hitting the streets in December, the mobile station will be parked in high-profile locations throughout downtown during weekday business hours, allowing an opportunity for members of the public to interact with officers.

More details on this mobile presence, expected to consist of a vehicle already in the Calgary police fleet, are expected in the coming weeks.

With online reporting of crimes becoming more popular, police are seeing a reduction in the number of citizens seeking front-counter services at city police stations.

Police stressed the move will not result in a decreased police presence downtown.

In May, deputy police chief Ray Robitaille told Postmedia that staffing numbers wouldn’t be reduced in the event of the station’s closure.

Calgary police opened the Victoria Park station in 2009 after the District 1 office was relocated out of the city’s core to its home in Ramsay.

Residents wishing to speak to an officer can do so either at the District 1 office or the Chinook Mall community station.

The decision to close the Victoria Park station comes more than a year after CPS shut community police stations in Braeside and Riverbend.