Edmonton police doubling the number of officers investigating shootings [Video]

A second police team dedicated to investigating shootings in Edmonton is starting at the end of the month.

The Edmonton Police Service Firearms Investigation Unit (FIU) currently has eight officers.

With funding help from provincial police agency Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) that will expand to 16 officers March 31.

“As we get convictions through court and as these offenses have significant jail time, I think word will get out that Edmonton is taking gun crime seriously,” said EPS FIU Detective Thomas Hapke.

Hapke has been a detective with the unit since it was created in 2019.

He says when it first started, investigators were mainly focused on cracking down on straw trafficking — the act of buying guns legally and then selling them illegally — but the landscape has changed.

“With the handgun freeze or the handgun ban, we’re seeing that a lot less because you can’t purchase …