City moves ahead to hire 201 officers in wake of fatal shooting

Calgary city council has accelerated a plan to spend $25 million to hire 201 police officers over the next three years, on the heels of a weekend shooting at a party that left one man dead and four others wounded.

Mayor Dave Bronconnier and police chief Rick Hanson had outlined the plan more than two weeks ago, and on Monday city aldermen broke the city's own budget rules to pre-approve spending on the new officers.

"We are going to work outside the budget process because this is such an urgent item that needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible," said Bronconnier.

Only one alderman, Andre Chabot, voted against the spending, saying council should wait until budget deliberations in November.

Part of the plan includes lobbying the province to match the city's contribution and hire an additional 200 officers. But at a meeting last month, Premier Ed Stelmach rejected the request to match funding for new officers.

Announcing the plan last month, Hanson said the city's rapid growth, combined with the "increased sophistication of organized crime," had stretched his agency to the limit.

"This infusion of new resources will enable us to more effectively address these issues in a timely manner."

Calgary police have identified Abdalla Ali Hussein, 20, of Calgary, as the man killed in the shooting at Calgary's Albert Park Radisson Heights Community Centre early Sunday.

Four more people suffered gunshot wounds. There have been no arrests.