Shootings are up 42 per cent this year when compared to 2022, the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) said in an update Thursday.
EPS statistics showed as of Nov. 30, there had been 204 shootings — compared to 144 shootings this time last year. That’s an increase of 42 per cent.
In November alone, there were 11 reported shootings and of those 11, nine are believed to be targeted. Four resulted in injuries.
One of the shootings included the shooting deaths of a father and his son in south Edmonton.
“Edmonton is facing some big city problems,” said Temitope Oriola, a professor of criminology at the University of Alberta.
“Police have to change their tactics. Go after those illegal weapons. This involves careful analysis of the cityscape to understand where such gangs are operating, how they are operating, what kinds of commodities or services they are providing.”
“That does require effective and efficient allocation of resources at an organizational level,” Oriola added.
“In terms of the flow of weapons, more could be done.”
EPS said the number of shootings in November were down by roughly one per cent, but the police service is pointing to the total number of shootings in 2023 that it says is up significantly when compared to 2022 numbers.
“Once again, public safety risk was high, as 10 of the 11 shootings had the potential for innocent bystanders to be harmed,” a spokesperson for EPS said in a statement.
Oriola described EPS is one of the best funded police services in Canada and questioned how resources are being used.
“I would like to see more preventative measures. I recognize and fully appreciate that they cannot prevent all shootings, but when we’re having a 42 per cent increase over a one-year period that calls to question, not just the actors and syndicates that are involved, but also our own tactics and strategies — are they working? What else can we do to bring that number down?”
Police addressed the level of crime happening in public spaces like malls, where the risk of bystanders being hurt is high.
“The ongoing threat to public safety that results when gun violence erupts in public spaces remains a concern that we are actively working to challenge and eliminate,” said Staff Sgt. Eric Stewart of the EPS gangs and guns section of the organized crime branch.
Back in the summer, two cars driving up 97 Street exchanged gunfire over several blocks in north Edmonton.
Last week, a man was randomly shot by a stranger outside Kingsway Mall and earlier this year, there was a targeted shooting in the parking lot of West Edmonton Mall.
“Driving, shopping and walking near your home should not be this unsafe, and the reckless daytime shooting deaths at a busy shopping complex in early November clearly underscores that any respect for the safety of innocent citizens among organized crime groups is non-existent.”
So far this year, EPS said it had seized 825 guns,which Oriola said was a large number but also cautioned that police have much more work to do to track down where the guns are coming from, the majority of which he estimated to be 3D printed guns — also known as ‘ghost guns’ — or illegal firearms and coming from the U.S. and even overseas.
“The idea here is not that it would be fully eliminated — that’s unrealistic. It’s to ensure that we’re keeping these issues to a bare minimum. And how we do that, is to do a proper systematic analysis. What gangs are operating in Edmonton? Are they regular street level gangs or organized criminal syndicates?” Oriola questioned.
“What can we do to prevent some of this inter-gang activity from spreading on our streets?” The fact that the vast majority of these shootings are targeted is an opportunity for police to go after those actors or the perpetrators and those that are being targeted. Why is that? Again, the deployment of the resources available to the EPS and how they are deployed is absolutely essential.”
Oriola said a variety of tactics are needed.
“Where are the police informants, who help us map out tactics and strategies that work?” Oriola added.
“The work that needs to be done [by police] is covert work — because often times when the cruisers show up its too late.”
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