Here’s what social disorder in downtown Calgary looks like

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]That's okay. What's going on?

[00:00:05]This is what social disorder in downtown Calgary can look like. A woman who tells police she uses fentanyl falling asleep in an alley.

[00:00:14]Not necessarily causing harm to others, but she could get hurt and the behavior is unusual or unpredictable. Disorder is where they're actually like committing some kind of offense, right? So if they're like loitering, if they're setting up an encampment, if they're building a fire, if they're littering, if they're dumpster diving.

[00:00:33]Specialized teams with Calgary police say they see dozens of these situations every day. CBC News got her own snapshot while spending the day in a police cruiser. We saw countless examples of disorder and the line many Calgarians walk between [music] empathy and frustration.

[00:00:49]>> At the end of the day they're still people, they need help. A lot of them don't.

[00:00:53]Perfect example right there.

[00:00:56]So I mean people like that, it's an uncomfortable feeling, right?

[00:01:00]Organizations that Police say about 75 people are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime and social disorder. They're called high system users, each generating as many as 15 calls [music] to police every day. We had a gentleman we just dealt with at the Superstore. We kicked him out one door, he walked around and went in the other door to do the same store and start stealing. This is within 5 minutes of dealing with him. Like stuff like that's a bit frustrating. Police say addiction, mental health and homelessness drive social disorder.

[00:01:28]Things officers alone don't have the power to solve. Yeah, he's all right.

[00:01:32]The drop-in center staff to come out and check on people as well. But there's another element to the calls police receive. Hey, you all right?

[00:01:40]Passed out on the sidewalk here, man.

[00:01:41]There's definitely social discomfort. A vulnerable person gets on to a C-Train and sits down on a bench. So they're not actually doing anything, but maybe it's the way that they look, maybe it's the way they're acting because of mental health issues.

[00:01:53]Um maybe it's because their hygiene is not what most people would consider acceptable, but so they're not really committing any offense, they're just existing, but it's that people don't feel comfortable around that for whatever reason. In just one day, a drive through downtown showed open drug use, tent encampments and many unpredictable people.

[00:02:11]Thorp says he's seen these same problems in many cities he's visited. We have to realize we can't enforce our way out of the strategy out of the situations that we're dealing with.

[00:02:20]Oh, you dropped your lighter. Thorp says policing has evolved since he joined the service 20 years ago. He and his team already know many of the people they interact with. Calls himself the prime minister.

[00:02:31]Like super nice guy, but has his mental health issues for sure.

[00:02:36]>> I think when I started it was probably more focused on like the crime aspect of it for sure. But we've seen like we've seen this shift. Again, I think it's just a reflection of kind of where we're at as a society right now and again this is not anything that's unique to Calgary. And it's not anything that's unique on this particular day.

[00:02:54]Tomorrow will probably bring more of the same.

[00:02:56]Elizabeth Wylde, CBC News, Calgary.