A Calgary Police Commission survey conducted of 1,007 citizens last summer showed nine out of 10 respondents are satisfied or highly satisfied with the services provided.
However, police commission chair Denis Painchaud admitted while the numbers are high, they have been on an eight-year declining trend.
“I think that virtually any other police service in Canada would be thrilled to have 89 per cent population support them,” Painchaud said.
“Year over year we see a decrease basically of one per cent a year. Is that much to get excited about?
Probably not, but from a trend perspective, the trend has been there since 2000,” he said, adding they are concerned.
While people are for the most part satisfied with their police services, 73 per cent of citizens of Calgary believe crime has increased since last year, even though stats say crime has decreased in past years. But that may not be the case, Painchaud said. “We haven’t actually been convinced crime is down, we think that less people are reporting crime. This survey and the results verify that, so that is a concern for us,” he said.
“This is not a surprise to the Calgary police service. They don’t believe crime is down, they believe reporting crime is decreasing for these very reasons.”
Ald. John Mar, who now oversees the police commission, said he isn’t surprised people perceive higher rates of crime.
“What we’re seeing right now is a lot of conditions that give people the feeling of unease,” Mar said.
“News reports of violent crime certainly have a continually eroding effect.”
