“We can no longer allow criminals to profit off the destruction of people’s lives, the tearing apart of families, the crushing impact of this drug on our communities,” he said. “Gun violence goes hand in hand with organized crime and gang activity. There is always a danger to innocent bystanders when our public spaces are disrupted by violence.”Ellis pointed to a Feb. 15 shooting in the Calgary neighbourhood of Temple last month as an example of violence affecting the greater community.
“These new teams are tailor-made to provide a swift strike to gangs and organized crime by combining the best resources available to successfully achieve results in investigations,” he said. “We will be relentless in targeting those who threaten our public safety and our community well-being.”Calgary police officials noted that roughly 25 per cent of shootings are tied to organized crime, with the remaining 75 per cent primarily targeted shootings.
“These efforts directly resulted in the arrest of offenders responsible for violence in our city, including in relation to a shooting that happened in broad daylight at a busy grocery store parking lot and the arrest of two organized crime offenders who are carrying loaded firearms while inside that store just prior to Christmas,” said Dayley.