[GullFoss]

Originally Posted by chemgear

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...8-1a851cc96916

Beltline safe consumption site seeing increased presence in drug addicts, dealers: police chief

Calgary’s first supervised consumption site has prompted a migration of drug users and dealers to the city’s Beltline, sparking “significant concerns” among nearby residents, Calgary’s acting police chief told federal legislators.

“The biggest issue we have is that our drug dealers have now, of course, learned where their clients have moved to, and that’s one of the biggest issues we’re dealing with right now is having to . . . arrest our way out of that part of the issue.”

Along with the rise in client visits, police have recorded an increase in violent crime and social disorder calls within a 500-metre radius of Safeworks.

From January to October, the area saw a 23 per cent increase in social disorder calls compared with the same period last year, as well as a 17 per cent uptick over the three-year average. About two-thirds of those calls were related to unwanted guests or suspicious people.

Calgary police District 1 Insp. Rob Davidson, whose Ramsay-based station patrols Calgary’s downtown, including the safe consumption site, said the past few months have seen a spike in criminal activity in the area around Safeworks.

“It’s only in the last 10 weeks or so we’ve started to see an increase in specific criminal trends that are closer to the Sheldon Chumir facility,” he said, noting they’ve seen a rise in car prowlings, vehicle thefts and other property crimes in the immediate vicinity.

“We’re trying to figure out why that specifically would be, but we’ve also seen amount of usage at the site has also gone up significantly.”

“We’re seeing a lot of open air-drug trafficking and people trying to sell stolen property,” said Davidson, adding they began sending more resources to the area between August and September.

Despite the recent police crackdown, Davidson said the tone at community meetings has been one of growing discomfort and fear about both crime trends and a surge in complaints about used needle debris in public spaces.

“They’re not feeling safe in their community and we have to tackle that.”

I've sent complaints to Farkas. Not sure if he's going to do anything...perhaps he's too concerned with items outside of his jurisdiction