While provincial and municipal officials in communities throughout central and southern Alberta deal with serious flooding, a number of Edmonton Police Officers have travelled to Calgary, to help their local counterparts handle the situation.
It all started with a call from Calgary Police Chief Rick Hanson to Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht Thursday night, asking for help.
Hours later, dozens of Edmonton police officers in 25 police cruisers were on the road, heading into Calgary.
On Friday, EPS officers were out in the field with Calgary officers, helping with traffic control, responding to emergencies, and otherwise helping out their police force.
“We must also say thank you to the City of Edmonton who have sent us police officers, so our guys can get a little bit of rest,” Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said in a press conference Friday. “That was a marvelous and generous offer.”
As for any issues in the Edmonton area, Knecht told reporters Friday that service in Edmonton would not be affected for eight days – many of the officers who volunteered were on holidays or on days off.
As of Friday, the plan for the officers is to have them stay in Calgary until Monday, when the situation will be reassessed.
If need be, more officers would be brought in to relieve the others.
With files from Amanda Anderson
