Mark Neufeld to Serve as Calgary Police Chief Until 2027

The Calgary Police Service (CPS) has officially extended Chief Constable Mark Neufeld’s serving as the city’s police chief until 2027. The extension was announced on Friday.

Chief Neufeld was sworn in the spring of 2019 and was the fifth person in the five previous years to lead the service. “The Calgary Police Service has had to navigate financial pressures, very public calls for change, and an addiction and mental health crisis, all during a pandemic that stretched resources and put employees under immense stress” said a statement by Shawn Cornett, Chair of the CPS.

Cornett said “strong stable leadership will ensure that the work that matters to Calgarians will continue uninterrupted.” The CPS said one of the key factors in the extension is “committing to very good, strong leadership that is stable.”

Chief Neufeld was one of the first Canadians police leaders in 2020 to acknowledge that systemic racism exists in policing, and he led the country in making commitments to address systemic barriers and discrimination, says the CPS.

The News Release says Chief Neufeld changed “several key leadership positions so that they are held by specialized civilian professionals instead of police officers, and he has made significant strides in modernizing how the organization is run.”

Chief Neufeld said “it is my absolute honor to be afforded the opportunity to continue in a leadership role with the amazing members of the Calgary Police Service.”

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