A viral video showing an East Village rampage on Friday evening has sparked debate over Calgary public safety, crime enforcement, and addiction policy after a man was caught on camera vandalizing multiple vehicles, including one owned by a city councillor.Calgary Police Services (CPS) responded to reports around 7:15 p.m. on July 25 in the 800 block of 6 St. S.E., where a man was reportedly harassing bystanders and causing extensive damage to several parked vehicles.According to CPS, the same individual also caused a disturbance at a nearby restaurant. He was arrested at approximately 7:30 p.m.The man is now facing five counts of mischief to a motor vehicle, one count of causing a disturbance, and one count of public intoxication.Video footage of the incident surfaced the following day on social media and quickly went viral.Two popular Calgary-based Instagram accounts, urbancalgary and trustedyyc, reshared the original video posted by witness Zenas Joachim. The video shows the man jumping on windshields and smashing windows of several vehicles in the area..Meth consumption on a Calgary train.One of those vehicles belonged to Ward 13 Councillor Dan McLean, who confirmed the damage on social media.“The cops phoned and said my truck had been damaged and it was some drug-addicted, mentally ill person jumping on a bunch of cars,” McLean told the Western Standard. “They gave me a police report and said they arrested him, which was good.”McLean, who says he has personally been affected by property crime on several occasions, used the incident to highlight what he believes is a broader public safety crisis in Calgary.“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this,” he said. “A couple, three years ago, I had my truck stolen. They went on a rampage for three days, smashing into vehicles, high-speed chases... needles and pipes were all across the whole cab.”McLean criticized the current catch-and-release judiciary system that has come under increasing scrutiny from multiple sectors in recent years and said he doesn’t buy any of the claims that crime rates are declining.“I hear it from my ward and all over the place,” he maintained. “Instead of saying crime is down, say we’ve stopped reporting crime.”.Alberta and Calgary governments needling each other over drug consumption site.Just recently, it was announced by Statistics Canada that Calgary’s overall Crime Severity Index (CSI) had decreased by 14.9% between 2023 and 2024.At the time, CPS Insp. Travis Juska said the numbers were encouraging, but he recognized that not all Calgarians necessarily felt safer."Just because we've seen a decrease in certain amounts of property crime or violent crime doesn't mean that a Calgarian might feel safe or unsafe in a setting that they are somewhere in the city," Juska said in a statement.StatsCan data showed crime rates (measured in terms of incidents per 100,000 people) were generally down across most types of offences in Calgary.However, the rate of violent crime, while down from 2023, remained significantly higher than it was at its low point in 2013.McLean, who has participated in police ride-alongs, said officers are frustrated by a system that requires them to detain and transport offenders across the city — only for them to be released hours later.“It’s just a whole bunch of wasted time and paperwork,” he said. “If they write someone a ticket, they’re not going to pay it. If they issue a warrant, these people don’t care.”.MORGAN: Calgary’s Crack-Train is a pipeline for crime.McLean described Calgary’s downtown core as a place where open drug use is commonplace and claimed that some individuals overdose multiple times a day.“It isn’t working — it’s a load of bulls---. People are fed up with it. I’m fed up with it,” he said. “It’s time we cracked down on the crackheads.”McLean criticized what he called the “compassionate” crowd for enabling suffering through inaction. He said people who are addicts are, “dying right in front of our eyes... they’re walking around like zombies.“They need to be taken care of.”The councillor has voiced strong support for the provincial government’s new Bill 53 — officially named the Compassionate Intervention Act — which enables involuntary treatment for adults with severe addiction issues.He also praised Premier Danielle Smith and the UCP government for plans to build secure treatment centres across the province.The two new treatment centres are set to be located in Calgary and Edmonton and will have 150 beds each.Premier Danielle Smith has said construction could start as early as next year and the centres would be operational in 2029.“My hat’s off to the UCP and the Smith government. They’re building treatment centres where the door locks behind them, like it should be,” he said.“You just can’t let people walk in and get their safe supply [of drugs]. That doesn’t work. It’s more stupid slogans from the left.”He pointed to new facilities in Grande Prairie, Red Deer, and Lethbridge as a way to reduce the migration of addicts to Calgary, where “there’s free drugs everywhere and it’s a party town.”McLean claims the province is already seeing a reduction in overdoses in other cities and insists Calgary needs its own facility “sooner rather than later.”McLean maintained a call for consistent enforcement, noting that Calgary is able to “clean up” its streets during major international events like the recent G7 or Rotary Club conventions.“Why don’t we do it all the time?” he asked..CALGARY ISSUES: The crime, transit, taxes, real estate....He also pointed the finger at Calgary city council, accusing it of shirking its own responsibilities.McLean criticized some colleagues for their continued support of supervised consumption services, particularly at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre, a site he’s long advocated to shut down.“Some on council are still big on supervised consumption because of [the centre], which I’ve been trying to close down for a long time — but they think it still works.”He also took aim at earlier council interest in safe supply initiatives, which he sees as enabling drug dependence rather than solving root issues.“It wasn’t long ago that some on council were parroting safe supply — giving people free drugs because it was not criminal street drugs.”He confirmed he would be raising the issue directly during question period at City Hall tomorrow, urging council to take more proactive measures.McLean feels the political mood is shifting as more people are not holding back when they discuss what they see as Calgary’s continuing urban decay.“The narrative of safe consumption sites is starting to die,” McLean said.“But there are still some on council who think if we shovel more money at non-profits that can hand out flyers to people, we’re gonna solve the problem.”
