“The city’s changed and it’s grown in size significantly and as a result we’re faced with big city challenges—we’ve become a baby international city almost overnight,” said Alderman Mar.
Mar also commented on his call for the Calgary Police Service to add additional officers to help with Calgary’s expanding population.
“In order for us to get to where we were proportionately for our policing in 1982, we need to increase our police by about 416. If we do that we would have a police to population ratio that would be equivalent to what we had in 1982 which would be much more optimal than what we have now.”
Also attending the rally was Steffi Stehwien, the mother of Aaron Shoulders, a young Calgary man who was swarmed and brutally beaten and stabbed by 12 suspected gang members outside a Calgary nightclub after trying to break up a fight. Shoulders died in a hospital 15 days later.
Stehwien, who’s lived in Calgary on and off since 1972, says that Calgary has changed “like day and night” from how it was in the 70’s.
“Our murder rate has tripled since my son was murdered. I don’t like this city anymore. I don’t feel safe, I don’t go anywhere except for the work that I’m doing. I fear for my grandchildren every day. I can’t stand it anymore, it is changing. It used to be a beautiful city in the 70s but now it is a place that I want to leave,” she said.
Also in attendance were four members of “The Guardian Angels,” an unarmed city-patrol group which can be identified by the red berets and red jackets that they wear as a uniform. The orginaztation was originally founded in 1979 in New York and now has chapters in 100 cities across 11 countries.
Stephen Saretsky, a member of the group, commented on the group’s reasons for forming in Calgary.
“For most of us we just felt that the crime in this city was certainly escalating and that we wanted to do our part in trying to do something about it rather than sit on the fence and complain about it,” he said.
“We felt that taking an active hand in anything that you have a problem with is the best way to approach the situation, so we all felt that volunteering for the group would be a positive step in that lane.”
He also commented on how the Ward 8 rally fit in with the Guardian Angel’s philosophy. “It’s exactly what the guardian angels believe in: that the citizens need to take a stand, and that there is strength in community solidarity. This is definitely something we would support and encourage and hope to see more of.“
Saretsky, who moved to Calgary in 1985 also remarked that he’s seen a huge change for the worse in Calgary in recent years.
“I have not been a victim of crime myself over the last 35 years of my life, and in the last two or three years I’ve been a victim of crime probably dozens of times, so I’ve definitely seen a huge increase.”
