Calgary approves hiring 50 new police officers using revenue from traffic tickets

Calgary has approved theuse ofmoney collectedfrom traffic tickets tohire 50 new police officers.

City council voted unanimously in favour of the request Monday, which the Calgary Police Service says is necessary to meet a rising demand for both crime response and community policing.

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Last year, the Alberta governmentincreased fines for speeding and running red lights by 35 per cent.

"So, that has resulted in about an $8million revenue stream that we weren't anticipating," said Ward 13Coun. DianeColley-Urquhart, who is a longtime member of the Calgary Police Commission.

"We'reasking for permission from council to let us invest that into policing and not increase the property tax base," she said.

It would cost the city about $7.5million per year to create and maintain the new jobs, butCoun. Ward Sutherland said it's money well spent.

"Crime unfortunately is up 29 per cent this year and it has to do with the economy and the drug situation that we have. And also,our 911 calls are up quite significantly over 1,000 calls in the last six months."

He said the CPS has been "very good" at finding efficiencies andactually saved money overthe last few years.

"We have the lowest population of police to the general population in Canada," he told the Calgary Eyeopener on Monday.

The force had10 new positions in 2015and none so far in 2016.

Not 'adding bodies just for the sake of adding bodies'

Police Chief Roger Chaffinsaidthe service focuses heavily on investing in technology and methodsthat make police work more efficient, and this current request for additional officers isn't a matter of "adding bodies just for the sake of adding bodies."

"Our capacity issues are being challenged right now," Chaffin told council.

"It's not just simply a case of getting to more calls for service. It's actually being able to respond to the community in the ways that we'd like to."

The CPS is still having "significant challenges" in meeting the demand for school resource officers, Chaffin said, and doing all the "early intervention" work with at-risk youth it hopes to accomplish.

Demand for resources to address domestic violence is also on the rise,the chief said.

The city has also seen a dramatic spike in various types of property crime in the past year.

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With files from the Calgary Eyeopener