Ceremony lauds 22 new peace officer graduates
Recruits will have field training to learn on the job from experienced personnel
The City of Calgary's efforts to boost law enforcement presence on public transit and around the city continued Friday, with the graduation of 12 community peace officers and 10 transit peace safety officers.
The 22 newly christened peace officers were celebrated at a formal graduation ceremony at the Mewata Armoury — the culmination of a 13-week training program.
It was the city's first graduation ceremony for new peace officers of 2024, and the latest grad class continues a recent recruitment blitz in Calgary.
“It means we're going to have more visibility with our peace officers doing their work,” said Ryan Pleckaitis, the city's chief of the community standards division. “Our peace officers contribute to public safety, they (improve) livability, and having more peace officers doing a variety of tasks they are assigned is a big deal for us.”
One of the Calgarians celebrated on Friday was Liam Denty, the class leader of the transit safety peace officer graduating class.
During his address, Denty said it's an incredible time to be joining the city's team of peace officers.
“All of us are extremely excited to be on the forefront of change and have the opportunity to play our part in combating social disorder in our city,” he told the crowd. “Each and every one of us has worked extremely hard to get to where we are. Not only have we shown full commitment to our training, but we've shown full commitment to each other.”
Friday's graduating class was the second group since city council approved a new transit safety strategy last October — a plan to recruit, train and hire 65 additional transit safety officers at a cost of $15 million annually.
Thirty transit safety officers were hired in November, with the goal of clamping down on social disorder and improving perceptions of safety downtown and on public transit.
The city's recent investments in more law enforcement have paid off. According to the most recent Perspectives on Calgary Safety Perceptions survey, which was conducted in November, respondents indicated they felt slightly safer when using public transit than they did six months earlier.
Seventy-two per cent of survey respondents said they felt safe riding the Ctrain during the day — a five per cent improvement from a previous survey last May.
At the same time, 70 per cent responded that they felt safe waiting for the train at an LRT station in the daytime, compared to 64 per cent last May.
“The more peace officers we have, I think that has a direct correlation with how safe Calgarians feel,” Pleckaitis said. “Just the mere presence of peace officers is a benefit in terms of improving perceptions of safety.”
However, safety perceptions drop significantly when the sun goes down. Only 39 per cent of respondents said they felt safe riding the Ctrain after dark, while just 34 per cent said they felt safe waiting for the train after nightfall.
Before the latest recruits will be fully hired, they'll have field training to learn on the job from experienced officers.
Our peace officers contribute to public safety, they (improve) livability, and having more peace officers doing a variety of tasks they are assigned is a big deal for us.