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The Edmonton Police Service says the average crime severity in the downtown core dropped 13.6 per cent in the first nine months of 2026 compared to the same period last year.
EPS held a news conference on Wednesday to talk about the reduction in crime the department is seeing in central Edmonton. The police department is attributing the decrease partly to a new strategy dubbed Safer Edmonton, which was launched in the spring of this year.
Devin Laforce, EPS’ chief of police operations, told reporters that the way police use data and technology as a result of the strategy allows officers “more time to get ahead of it and to be in those correct locations.”
EPS’ Safer Edmonton initiative uses data and technology to determine where patrols should be focused, combined with old-fashioned boots on the ground, police said in a news release.
From Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 2026, police said public calls for service in the downtown dropped 7.6 per cent compared to the same period last year, while officer-generated calls increased by 42.5 per cent during the same time frame.
Laforce said in order to lower crime severity, the downtown branch relies on public calls as well as proactive patrols.
“They’re the eyes and ears on the ground,” he said. “They’re talking to stakeholders, they’re talking to citizens, they’re talking to business owners.
“And so all of this starts to feed what that looks like and where we need to actually be.”
New tech and old techniques
Insp. Jason Altmiks with EPS’ crime management branch, said software is helping police patrol more efficiently, pinning down where officers need to be and when.
“I think one of the things that has probably changed is the advancement of technology and software,” he said during the news conference. “Our ability to integrate and analyze data has never been so advanced as it is today.”
But University of Alberta criminology professor Temitope Oriola said that while he understands why EPS needs to “emphasize the success that they’ve had,” he is “hesitant to accept that somehow this is brand new.”
“I think it’s a repackaging of the kinds of steps, the kinds of measures that police organizations have been using for decades,” Oriola told CBC News in an interview.
Collecting and deploying data, hot spot policing, focusing on spaces in the city with major incidents and determining times and days to focus on certain areas are all traditional methods used by police, Oriola said.
“Those are fairly well-established, nitty-gritty standards of policing,” he said.
Coun. Mike Elliott, also a former Edmonton police officer, voiced similar opinions to CBC News.
“While I applaud what they’re doing, to me, it is still at the end of the day, old-school policing,” he said. “By having officers and high visibility, areas will decrease crime and disorder and bring back the perception and reality of safety.”
Elliott said he believes beat patrols help people feel more at ease in certain areas and deter potential criminal activity.
Expanding citywide
EPS officials said the police department is expanding the Safer Edmonton strategy to other areas of the city as part of its community policing approach.
In the west end, police said violent crime is down 17 per cent overall this year compared to last year.
Police said people in the the Stony Plain Road area of west Edmonton can expect to see a more visible police presence.
Todd Janes, executive director of the Stony Plain Road and Area Business Association, said businesses have already noticed an increase in police presence, adding that beat patrols have increased in frequency from four days a week to seven days a week.
“That seven-day-a-week support … and that policing and surveillance is making a difference,” he told reporters Wednesday.