The Calgary Police Service handles up to 16,000 domestic violence-related calls each year, and one of the city’s top cops says more help would be useful in tackling them.

Superintendent Sat Parhar says as many as 400 of those calls can be deemed high risk.

The Domestic Conflict Unit currently has 12 members; while Parhar says they’re not struggling, he believes added staff would be an asset.

His candid comments come after criticism the force received after some disturbing incidents recently.

The mother of murder victim Lacey Jones-McKnight accuses the system of failing her daughter.

The 20-year-old’s body was found in a car along Country Hills Blvd. last Thursday.

Her ex-fiancée, Kristopher Guenther, is charged with second degree murder.

Parhar says this incident and others have given him time to reflect.

“Personally I hope the Mayor is paying attention,” he says. “Do I need to go to certain people and ask for more (officers)? Yes, in the process you do but we still need people to speak up.”

“Do I think 12 officers are enough? I don’t,” Parhar adds. “And I hate to say that, because there are so many different priorities going on in this city from the gang stuff right to the stuff that’s happening on the front lines.”

New tools are also making investigations more dynamic and more complex.

“Throw the Internet in there and I’ll say that’s another 100 hours of work … these things are taking a lot more time and effort,” he explains.

The senior officer adds it’s hard to predict the number of cases they’ll face at any given time because domestic violence can spike from year to year.