At 2:30 a.m. on Monday, I asked a man to stop stealing electricity from Tomkins Park, unplug his loudspeaker, and go home. He punched me in the face for my trouble..I live in the Calgary Beltline zone. This is another story about the failure of community policing in the area..Around 2 a.m. on Monday, I called 311 to report a noise complaint against the Fire N Ice Bar and Sheesha lounge on 16th Ave S.W.. The music coming from their direction was obnoxiously loud for a work night. 311 transfers noise complaint calls to the police non-emergency number..The police dispatcher didn’t seem too concerned. After taking my information she suggested that people who live downtown should just accept loud noise. She even said that businesses can apply for special noise bylaw exemption permits. I got the distinct impression that the Thin Blue Line didn’t care about lawlessness downtown. When I asked if anyone on 16th Ave had one of those permits, she said I should call bylaws via 311 and talk to them..Out of curiosity – and the music was keeping me up anyway – I looked up the city’s noise exemption permit info. It seemed unlikely that such a permit would allow loud music at 2 a.m., so I called 311 but this time to talk to the operator about permits. The 311 operator was respectful and confirmed that there was no such exemption permit issued. The police could shut it down if they wanted to. I filed a separate noise complaint with her and was told Bylaw would follow up with the management of Fire N Ice in a few days..It was at this point that I figured I’d walk down and try politely asking the manager to lower the volume. That’s when I realized it wasn’t Fire N Ice. I expected to find a loud nightclub, but instead found a man in Tomkins Park at the N.W. corner of 17 Ave. and 7 St. S.W. I asked him to unplug his loudspeaker and go home. He said he was “fighting for freedom” and that he recently “fought for freedom in Ottawa.”.I have no idea how playing loud reggae music at 2:30 a.m. advances the cause of freedom, but he said he was willing to fight for freedom again tonight. Then he punched me in the face..I backed off, left the park, and called 911. When he realized I was on the phone with police, he came towards me and shouted that he would kill me. It was at this point when 3 members of Fire N Ice’s private security came over to defuse the situation. They asked him to calm down and stood between us as I was on the phone with 911..The security guards told me that Calgary police had spoken with him over an hour ago. The police asked him to turn down the music, but he put it back to full blast as soon as they left. I thanked the security guards for their help..The reggae loving freedom fighter described himself as “half [black] half Métis” – he used the n-word – and spent a few minutes yelling death threats and insults at me and the security guards. He called us the N-word, called me a “white [n-word],” and eventually walked off down 17th Ave carrying his loudspeaker..When two Calgary police officers arrived to take my statement, I was reminded of my earlier conversation with non-emergency dispatch. The young female officer adopted the posture of someone who didn’t want to be there..While I was explaining what happened, she said that I should have filed a noise complaint with 311 and bylaw enforcement. When I pointed out that 311 directs noise calls to the police non-emergency number, she said that officers don’t respond to noise complaints in the Beltline and that people who live downtown should just accept loud noise at all hours of the night. She even admitted that Calgary police have given up and said, “We wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for the assault.”.I asked her where she lived. She told me, “Down south.” I asked her if she’d expect no police response to a 2 a.m. noise complaint in her neighborhood. She replied, “I don’t know what you want me to say, do you even want our help?” I responded, “I want you to say that you take community policing in the Beltline seriously.” I looked her in the eyes, half exhausted and half disappointed. The young woman paused for a moment, rolled her eyes, and said “We take community policing in the Beltline seriously.” I responded, “I wish that were true.”.Her partner was respectful and by the book. I couldn’t tell if he cared about crime downtown, but he acted like a man who followed procedure. Both officers were wearing Thin Blue Line patches, but the real thin blue line that night were the private security guards employed by Fire N Ice..After the police left, I called 311 again. I had to right a wrong. I told the 311 operator what happened, that I’d like to cancel my noise complaint against Fire N Ice, and that their security guards should be commended for their service to the Beltline community. She showed me concern, empathy, and respect. She did her job well. She was the only city employee who had pride in her voice that night.
