Former police chief Rick Hanson did nothing wrong in assigning new officers just before he announced his political run, says Alberta's police watchdog.

Hanson's resignation from the Calgary Police Service took effect on March 13. The next day he announced he would be the Progressive Conservative candidate in Calgary-Cross in the May 5 provincial election. He lost that race.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) opened an investigation after questions were raised whether Hanson's order to deploy 22 new officers for District 5 — which included his riding — was politically motivated.

"In the opinion of ASIRT Executive Director, Susan D. Hughson, Q.C., the evidence gathered overwhelmingly demonstrates that there are no grounds to believe Rick Hanson or any other member of CPS committed offences in relation to the decision to allocate these resources," ASIRT said in a release on Thursday.

"There is no evidence that Rick Hanson discussed the allocation during the campaign, or referred to it as part of his campaign platform. Furthermore, there is no evidence that Rick Hanson attempted to personally benefit from the allocation decision."

ASIRT's investigation noted that recommendations for new officers in District 5 — which had the second highest call volume, and the second highest critical staff shortage — were made as early as 2011.

A CPS working group assigned in 2014 to examine which districts needed more police officers recommended the new allocation for District 5 in January.

On March 4 Hanson accepted the working group's recommendations and he formally approved the allocation at a March 10 executive committee meeting, ASIRT says.

He sent a final email to the finance department on the evening of March 14 — after announcing his political run —regarding the District 5 changes and some other resource allocations, ASIRT says.

"He indicated he had meant to send it before but ran out of time. He also confirmed Acting Chief [Paul] Cook was aware of the decision."

The probe found there was clear and compelling justification for Hanson's handling of the District 5 changes, ASIRT says.

"The decision can best be described as a principled decision made after considerable research, thought and discussion within the CPS, with input from all the districts, well before Chief Hanson's retirement."