Large increase in gun seizures, shootings concerns police chief
Increasing levels of gun violence in the city weighs heavily on the mind of the city’s police chief
In a year-end interview with Postmedia last month, Calgary police Chief Roger Chaffin said the increase in gun crime adds a dangerous new dimension to maintaining law and order in the city.
“It goes along with the high presence of guns in the city right now, plus the willingness to use guns,” he said.
“It’s all part of the same story with all the dysfunction going on right now, in terms of addictions and downturns in the economy.”
The ongoing issue was again brought to the forefront during November’s city budget deliberations, during which police brass asked for a $14.3-million funding increase to maintain service levels in the city.
Between January and August, police responded to 62 shootings within city limits. That compares with 45 during the same period last year.
Of the city’s 28 murders in 2017, a third involved fatal shootings.
Chaffin attributed the uptick in gun crime to a significant increase in the availability of firearms to Calgary criminals.
“Once, it would be rare for us to ever see a gun,” he said.
“If you pulled someone over in an arrest, a gun would be a pretty unique situation — now it’s a pretty common situation.
“Now, if you stop a stolen vehicle, there’ll be guns inside that car. If you’re going to be inside a house where there’s drugs, there’ll be guns inside that house.”
The use of guns in assaults and score-settling between Calgary’s criminals is extremely troubling to police — mainly due to the seemingly indiscriminate way in which they’re used, with little regard for bystanders or those forced to witness these violent acts.
Despite a common belief the firearms are being smuggled north across the border from the United States, Chaffin said many of the guns police see used in violent crime are sourced locally.
“A lot of them are being obtained through break-and-enters in homes that are being targeted for their presence of weapons,” he said.
According to the RCMP, gun thefts have spiked over the past three years, increasing 66 per cent during that period.
The force reports more than 4,500 firearms were stolen across the province in the past four years.
That averages out to about three firearms taken per day in Alberta.
As well, Mounties came into contact with nearly 8,000 firearms last year, seizing more than half of them.
Over the past five years, Alberta’s Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) has seized close to 800 firearms.
In June, investigators from ALERT laid firearms trafficking charges against the owners of a Cardston retailer, seizing a thousand guns and more than one million rounds of ammunition.
During the five-month investigation into the store, investigators alleged the owners put public safety at risk by selling firearms and ammunition to customers without ensuring they held valid firearms licences at the time of sale.