Calgary Police hosting seminars to stem violence in northeast quadrant

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Ina Sidhu Video Journalist

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The Calgary Police Service is hosting seminars to address an increase of violence and shootings, especially in the northeast quadrant of the city.

Starting on Thursday, the YouthLink Calgary Police Interpretive Centre is launching community safety and gang education presentations.

“Our goal for them is to help educate and inform residents about how to keep their families safe and in the wake of the increasing violence, to help young people avoid high-risk lifestyles and work together effectively as a community to address the issues,” said Tara Robinson, executive director of the YouthLink Calgary Police Interpretive Centre.

Robinson said crime prevention and education are key pillars in the strategy to combat crime.

“If you have children you care about in your life, this program is for you,” she said.

“We will show how to recognize the signs your child might be participating in high-risk behaviours and how young people get involved. We will identity possible risks to your family, community and other youth and we will show you how to have those critical conversations.”

According to Calgary police, there were 60 shootings reported in the city between Jan. 1 and Aug 19.

That’s double the 23 incidents for the same time period in 2018.

“Any shooting that we have is a concern to us, but certainly what we know is there’s been a rise in shootings, a rise in violence particularly in this [northeast] part of Calgary,” said Acting Deputy Chief Cliff O’Brien.

“I think the only way we’re going to be able to fix this is initiatives like this, where we have the police and the community coming together.”

Presentations will be held at at the YouthLink Calgary Police Interpretive Centre at 5111 47th street N.E. on:

Aug. 22 at 6 p.m.

Aug. 29 at 6 p.m.

Sept. 7 at 11 a.m.

Sept. 12 at 6 p.m.

The presentations are free and open to all Calgarians. Childcare services will be available for children 11-years-old and younger and Punjabi translators will be available during the presentations.

More information is available online.

RELATED IMAGES Two men were killed in an early-morning shooting in northeast Calgary on Wednesday.