A plan to return a 24-7 police station to Calgary’s downtown will soon come before city council, Mayor Jeromy Farkas hinted Monday.
Farkas said a “super majority” of council members have signed onto an upcoming notice of motion that directs the city to work with the Calgary Police Service, the Calgary police commission and the Alberta government to study the feasibility of re-establishing a full-fledged police station in the core.
“We know Calgary is the only major North American city without a downtown police station, and this is a needed step to address some of the issues Calgarians are experiencing,” he said, adding the study would include a review of potential locations, capital and operating budget implications, and alternative funding options.
Having a downtown station would not only improve response times, the mayor said, but strengthen co-ordination between CPS and social services, outreach teams and community partners, while “creating a consistent point of contact” for businesses and residents.
“We know downtown safety is not where it needs to be,” Farkas said. “We’re hearing that from residents, businesses, commuters, and confidence in the core is taking a hit. It’s about public safety but, more generally, it’s impacting economic development and downtown vibrancy.
“Obviously, a new station will not be built by the end of the year, but I think it’s within reason to at least break ground on a location, especially if we see participation from the provincial and federal governments,” he added.
Calgary’s physical police presence in the core was reduced after CPS’s Victoria Park station, just north of Stampede Park, was shuttered in 2017. Since then, the most central police station has been the District 1 office in Ramsay.
At the time the Victoria Park station was closed, Calgary police argued the location was among its slowest, receiving an average of just 17,000 visits per year.
But the opioid epidemic and a subsequent rise in public safety concerns in the downtown have revived calls to re-establish police visibility in the core.
In 2019, when he was a city councillor, Farkas and Ward 7 Coun. Druh Farrell submitted an administrative inquiry asking administration to look into the feasibility of returning a full-fledged police station to the downtown.
Administration presented five potential locations, including the former Greyhound bus terminal on the west side of downtown and the old central library branch.
However, the report indicated it would be cost-prohibitive to convert any of the buildings into a police station, even if the space was provided for free or at low cost.
The Victoria Park police station in Calgary was photographed on Thursday, May 18, 2017.
Instead, CPS opened “safety hubs” in the East Village and on Stephen Avenue, where Calgary police officers could collaborate with bylaw enforcement and transit peace officers to write reports and store equipment.
Former mayor Jyoti Gondek convened a downtown safety leadership table in 2023, whose report identified a permanent station as one of its key priorities to bolster public safety in the core.
In November 2024, police officials announced the Stephen Avenue safety hub would be “beefed up” and relocated, with the creation of the CPS Community Counter and Downtown Safety Hub.
The office, on the ground floor of the Telephone building at 119 6th Avenue S.W., provides a space for the public to report minor crimes or stolen property, and for District 1 officers to file paperwork or interview complainants, without needing to return to the Ramsay station.
Farkas said the safety hub lacks visibility, however, noting it is only open on weekdays during regular working hours, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The facility also lacks deployment or arrest processing capabilities, he added.
“We know the annual policing year-end report confirmed violent crime and social disorder is disproportionately concentrated in the downtown core relative to the rest of the city,” he said. “To have Calgary be the only major North American city without a downtown police station, knowing what we know, is an untenable situation for us.”
Farkas said the location of the station should be data-driven.
“There are a number of city-owned or leased properties that are suitable for adaptive reuse, potentially new construction, potentially a public-private-partnership model or potentially participation from the provincial government,” he said.
“I have an open mind to that and I’m not presupposing an outcome in terms of location, beyond that we need one and it has to be downtown.”
Support not unanimous on council
Despite backing from most of his colleagues, three councillors suggested Monday that it’s a misguided priority, including the downtown representative.
Ward 7 Coun. Myke Atkinson said he hasn’t signed on to Farkas’s motion, arguing that a police station on its own won’t improve safety in the downtown. He noted Vancouver has a police station in East Hastings, a part of the city notorious for social disorder and rife with addiction issues, despite the prominent police presence.
A new station hasn’t been something either CPS or the Calgary police commission have been actively lobbying the new council on, Atkinson said, adding it would be a years-long, capital-intensive endeavour.
“They need more officers and they need better supports . . . more than they need a new building,” he told reporters Monday. “While we should be exploring those kinds of service delivery changes, I do worry sometimes that going down and exploring something is taking us away from how we deliver our services in the best way we can with what we have right now.”
Atkinson added he’d rather see more resources allocated to the downtown safety hub to bolster that facility with longer hours and more functions.
“It’d be great to see that open up to a wider range in terms of serving the community, and really see that delivery mechanism grow to its full potential,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve seen that yet and those kinds of explorations are something we could deliver on rapidly, quickly, to meet the moment we’re in right now.”
Calgary Ward 7 Coun. Myke Atkinson speaks to media outside council chambers on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026.
Another inner-city councillor, Ward 8 Coun. Nathaniel Schmidt, confirmed he also has also not signed on to the notice of motion.
“I think it’s premature, as far as the upcoming four-year budget coming up and police funding being a big part of that,” he said. “I’m not convinced this is something on the radar of the Calgary Police Service, or is needed when it comes to the struggles they’re facing.”
Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness said directing the police to explore the feasibility of a downtown station isn’t within council’s purview, but is a responsibility of the police commission.
“Commission is the independent governance (body), under the Police Act, to make these decisions,” she said.
In a statement Monday, Amtul Siddiqui, chair of the police commission, said Calgary’s police force has taken steps to strengthen its downtown presence through initiatives such as the safety hubs.
“It’s important to note that our upcoming budget request for the next four-year cycle takes into account the resources required to sustain current service levels and meet Calgarians’ expectations,” she wrote. “The discussion of a downtown police station would represent an additional operational and financial requirement beyond existing budgetary pressures. Together with council, we’re looking at all possible solutions to address the complex challenges downtown and continue keeping Calgarians safe.”
Const. Brad Milne, left, and Alberta Sheriff Prabhjot Singh walk outside the Calgary Police Service East Village Safety Hub on Feb. 14, 2023.
A Calgary criminologist said if council does pursue a downtown station, they’ll have to decide what functions such a space would serve.
“What will they be wanting to do in a downtown office that they’re not currently doing in the downtown?” said Doug King, a professor of criminal justice studies at Mount Royal University. “That has to be one of the first questions they have to answer.”
To make a downtown station effective, King said it would have to perform the same functions currently offered in the district offices. These include providing space for officers to meet, for the public to report crimes, for investigators to interview people and where officers can be dispatched from, he said.
A station must consider everything from staffing levels and hours of operation, to parking availability for patrol vehicles, he added.
“It all comes down to function,” he said. “That will then dictate how big of a space they’re going to need.”