Although Calgary police have offered $2 million in savings to the city, council voted yesterday to request an additional $2 million from the police service.
During the meeting, Ald. Gian-Carlo Carra said as a $300 million organization, finding more money shouldn’t be a huge undertaking.
“It’s not that I’m against policing … it’s about we all have to work together as a multi-faceted organization to solve a lot of challenges that we’re all facing,” he said.
Calgary Police Commission chair Mike Shaikh said he’s disappointed by council’s decision.
“We already have done line-by-line checking this thing,” said Shaikh.
“We’ve been asked to do this thing; we’ll comply with the request.”
Shaikh said because the majority of the police budget is salaries, there’s only $39 million to look for cuts.
Ald. John Mar said he doesn’t anticipate the police will be able to meet the request.
“I don’t foresee $2 million,” he said.
“Could there be $100,000 or something of that nature? Yes.”
