Calgary police overspend calls in OT, 2023

The Calgary Police Service nearly doubled its overtime and budget last year to just over $22 million, significantly more than the $11.4 million allocated.

The discrepancy was first reported by the CBC, which says it received an email from someone inside the force containing the information.

In a response to CityNews, the police force did not confirm the CBC report, but said there were many protests in 2023 – some large – which made it difficult for police to manage resources.

“This has been a year where we have had to continually increase staffing due to unforeseen circumstances that cannot affect our budget,” a CPS spokeswoman told CityNews in an email. “This was brought up in November when the Council revealed that we had requests for more police officers to be posted to places where we couldn't put them.”

The CPS added that exact numbers could not be released or confirmed because the year-end results had not yet been presented to the Calgary Police Commission, which oversees and manages the force's budget.

“It would be inappropriate to release specific details before they have had a chance to review it,” the force said in a statement.

This is an evolving story.