Calgary Crime Spike May Be Organized, Say Police

A recent increase in residential break-ins and petty thefts in Calgary's Inglewood neighborhood might be the work of a loosely organized group of individuals, according to the Calgary Police.

There's about 12 people that we're looking at that are all closely working together and have their fingers in a lot of pies, said Calgary Police Service District 1 Staff Sgt. Kyle Grant. "There may be some of those people who are living paycheque to paycheque and did have a job when the economy was good and didn't have to support themselves by crime. Now that they're out of the job and maybe having difficulty finding another job, for whatever reason, they're turning back to that.”

Staff Sgt. Grant did not mention any evidence that directly ties the twelve unidentified suspects to the recent spate of crimes, and did note that many of the thefts were likely crimes of opportunity.

Regardless of the loose conspiracy theory being proffered by the Calgary Police, their method for countering this trend of increased criminal activity is to increase their patrols and overall presence in the Inglewood neighborhood.

"I think that's excellent, said Bill Bakelaar, president of the Inglewood Community Association, in response to the news of the Calgary Police Service's plan. That's what we have our police there for. We prefer our police working on prevention rather than coming in after something has already gone wrong.”

It is unclear whether continued investigation into the potential crime ring will continue in full force, or whether Calgary Police will focus more completely on prevention.