City officers assaulted on average once per day in 2018
Increase reflects year-to-year trends and the growth in population, says professor
Calgary police officers were assaulted at a rate of nearly once per day through the first two-thirds of 2018, according to the latest statistics from the force.
Up until the end of August, the service reported there have been 206 assaults on officers so far this year, putting the city on track to reach and possibly surpass the high-water mark of 286 officer assaults set in 2016.
The number of assaults on police over the first eight months of the year amounts to a 14.4-per-cent increase compared with the same period in 2017.
It’s a statistic that has seen a general upward trend over the past five years, according to police data.
Sgt. Les Kaminski, former member of the gang and tactical units, and current president of the police service’s union, said the year-overyear numbers show the daily dangers faced by front-line officers.
“There’s anomalies that happen statistically ... but I think the bottom line is what this reflects is police work is inherently dangerous, not just here in Calgary but across the board,” Kaminski said.
“When you’re dealing with a criminal who doesn’t want to be responsible for what they’re doing, you always risk a violent encounter.”
While calls involving weapons, drugs or alcohol come with a higher level of danger to officers, Kaminski said any arrest can turn violent, noting domestic incidents can often lead to an officer assault, sometimes even by the apparent victim.
“When a victim watches you arrest their family member, and when you’re arresting a loved one, regardless of (a domestic assault), they can turn volatile,” Kaminski said.
Kaminski said new equipment rolling out to front-line officers this year — including body cameras, less-lethal launchers and hardplate body armour — will “help protect officers and the people that we deal with.”
He said body cameras aren’t “a magic bullet” for closing officerassault cases, but said the videos will give police “a more complete picture” of those incidents.
“I think the ultimate goal is to make policing as safe as it can possibly be and, in turn, of course the citizens are going to benefit from that,” Kaminski said. “The more effective police are, I think the safer people feel.”
Last year there were a total of 277 assaults against officers, with 32.6 per cent of those assaults being cleared by police. The number of assaults spiked in 2016 with 286, the same year that saw 10 officer-involved
When you’re dealing with a criminal who doesn’t want to be responsible for what they’re doing, you always risk a violent encounter.
shootings, five of them fatal.
Police officers laid 239 officerassault charges in 2015 and 189 in 2014.
Doug King, justice studies professor at Mount Royal University, said despite the rise in assault cases, it’s still on track to be essentially average this year, given year-over-year trends and annual increases to Calgary ’s population.
Between July and August, police saw some 60 assaults on officers, though King noted such spikes are common over the summer months.
He said the number of officer assaults in 2018 would have to jump above 300 for number crunchers to worry about a growing trend.