Hello again everyone. Hopefully you have enjoyed a great summer culminating in the recent Pride parade and festival. All I can say is, "WOW!" What a fantastic event it was. It just keeps getting bigger and better – just like our Calgary Police Service entry in the parade.

You may have noticed that we had the largest turnout of CPS staff for the parade that we have ever had.  Over 60 staff, the majority of them sworn members in uniform, volunteered their time to come and show their support. You did not let us down, and were extremely vocal in your appreciation. It was so rewarding for me, having spent some considerable time trying to coordinate our entry, but not unexpected. You are AWESOME, and your support of us was very touching, especially for those members who had not taken part in the parade before. Having solicited feedback from many staff members, they were all excited at participating and are keen to get involved again next year, schedules permitting. It will be a challenge to surpass our efforts this year, but I am up to that challenge!

During the past couple of weeks, I have been asked to provide comment on the situation that recently occurred in Ferguson, Missouri. For those of you that don’t know the story, here are the basic details. On August 9th an African-American youth named Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer. This incident sparked rioting and looting on a large scale, which lasted for several days. An uneasy peace now resides over the town of Ferguson while investigations into the incident take place. My colleagues in our Diversity Resource Team and I have had conversations about whether this type of incident could happen here in Calgary. My opinion is that it would not, and here is why.

Looking at the demographics in Ferguson, representation is very disproportionate. Sixty-seven per cent of the population is African-American, yet the mayor and chief of police are both Caucasian. Only one of six elected city council officials is African-American, zero school board members are, and only three of 53 police officers. Local elections feature an extremely low voter turnout, averaging around 11 per cent over the past three years. This tends to skew white and conservative results. The incident on August 9th resulted in years of long-simmering racial tension boiling over.

Here in Calgary we do not have these demographic issues and, subsequently, that level of tension does not exist. I believe that this is directly attributable to the work that continues to be done by the Diversity Resource Team. We have the largest and longest standing team of its kind in the country, and possibly North America, developing and maintaining relationships between diverse communities and the police. We realize that these communities have historically had trust issues with law enforcement and, in the case of recent immigrants to Calgary, we appreciate that they may have come from places where the police are certainly not your friend! Having portfolio holders for all of these communities means that positive relationships already exist between the police and community leaders. That is why Calgary did not see the same level of disorder as other cities did to protests such as Idle No More. It is extremely difficult to start building community relationships after the event, and here in Calgary we have been doing it successfully for over 35 years. This is yet another reason why Calgary is such a desirable city in which to live, evidenced by recent surveys.

That’s it from me for this month. Take care everyone. Stay safe and look after each other. As always, feel free to contact me with any questions, comments or concerns.