Article content continued

Insp. Rob Davidson with the Calgary Police Service called these offences “acquisitive crime,” in which members of Calgary’s vulnerable populations are involved in auto crime, property thefts and break-and-enters.

That increase in downtown crime has led some residents in Forest Lawn to question a new mobile harm-reduction site slated to open in the community, pending approval from Health Canada.

Even though the service has increased foot patrols and resources in the area, Davidson said “the criminal justice system is not the right place” to deal with these “complex social and health issues,” stressing that “supervised consumption services . . . does not create addiction.”

“I hear a lot that police work isn’t social work; it is. We’re intimately connected to social work, so the approach to the front-line officers isn’t about enforcement, it’s about problem solving,” he said.

Photo by Gavin Young / Postmedia

The service’s focus is on “moving people into services” such as addiction counselling, mental health support programs and drug intervention programs.

But those efforts require a shift at the “cross-sector, multi-agency level,” such as a grant to Calgary’s Alpha House Society to form a team assigned to monitoring Safeworks and surrounding neighbourhoods, and $1 million in city funding to improve safety near the site.

De Iaco said the stakeholder group wants to “change the narrative” around issues facing the Beltline beyond just crime and disorder.

With obstacles including downtown office vacancy rates, unemployment and a sputtering energy sector, De Iaco said the focus needs to be on driving “innovation investment.”

“We’re working closely with the city on plans for downtown recovery and resilience,” De Iaco said, including “a plan to reimagine” and create “a new identity” for Stephen Avenue.

“We think that if everybody is pointed in that direction, certainly with the change in provincial government recently, there’s something to get optimistic about.”

RRumbolt@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @RCRumbolt