Calgary police chief holds breath for more new hires

Calgary's police chief publicly thanked Premier Ed Stelmach for his campaign promise to hire more officers, but doesn't know how many will end up on his city's streets.

Rick Hanson praised Stelmach's commitment to hire at least 100 new officers for the province, addinghe hopes the funding comes sooner rather than later.

"The preliminary word we're getting from Edmonton is that they're crunching the numbers right now so we haven't heard the numbers exactly yet," Hanson said Thursday at a breakfast event to support women's shelters.

"It's so far really promising because in a growing city like Calgary, we really do need the additional resources."

Hanson said he hoped Stelmach's pledge of 100 new officers province-wide is just a starting point because Calgary alone could use that number to tackle gang and domestic violence.

The chief pointed out seven per cent of the city's homicides are gang-related and25 per centare linked to domestic violence.

At the same event, Stelmach said the province will soon cut a cheque to allow Calgary to hire more police, but the premier did not divulge the exact amount, saying the Treasury Board is putting the finishing touches on the budget.

Meanwhile, federal money $43 million over five years that could pay for about 80 additional officers in Alberta should be available on April 1, said Hanson.