Lethbridge crime rate down in all areas of the city
By Tim Kalinowski on June 18, 2021.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com The Lethbridge Police Service held a virtual town hall earlier this week to discuss the latest crime stats in the city, and to address recent controversies which are being dealt with under its action plan.Chief of Police Shahin Mehdizadeh first shared the good news; that crime is going down in all areas of the city year-to-date according to LPS statistics so far over 2020.
“We have seen a significant decrease in crime in all four regions of the city,” he stated.
“I am very proud to say that, and a lot of hard work is going on behind the scenes, great initiatives, and also our citizens’ co-operation. And the key role they play in public safety to bring such great results to this community.”
Mehdizadeh said his officers were working hard to continue that downward trend in Lethbridge.
“A few months ago Lethbridge was named one of the unsafest cities to live in Canada, and we are changing that story,” he said.
“I am proud to say I am very confident that we are going to give our place on the podium to another community, and get off that podium.”
Mehdizadeh credited the success of the Crime Suppression Team, and, more specifically, the police service’s focus on intelligence-led policing for helping to bring those crime rates down.
“The days of random policing and random patrols are gone,” stated Mehdizadeh. “We are in an age of intelligence-led policing.
“Patrols are an important component of policing,” he further explained later during the question and answer portion of the town hall, “and we certainly need to have visibility out there with roving patrols. But what I am talking about is when we have patrols with more focus, and targeted, on problem areas. That will see the biggest benefit to the resources we have, and how we can reduce crime.
“When our officers are armed with information about what’s going on in the city in certain times, where the hotspots are … and they have a choice to go right or left. Thirty years ago you just picked right or left without knowing where you are going – you were just going to drive around. Today, I want our officers to know if they go right, they are going to have a much better impact, and use of time, than going left.”
Mehdizadeh spent the last half of his town hall presentation Tuesday evening talking about the LPS Action Plan, and the five pillars associated with it, Ethics and Accountability, Leadership and Development, Employee Wellness and Mental Health Education, Database Access and a new Communication Strategy.
While touching on all five areas, Mehdizadeh acknowledged the particular concerns about alleged improper access of the police database by some officers for non-police purposes.
“The allegations are not good,” stated Mehdizadeh, “and we have been working to make sure the investigators have all they need to do a proper, methodic investigation to get to the bottom of it. Before even getting into the investigation, we have already implemented a few items.”
Mehdizadeh said the LPS has added a new layer of tracking accesses and all officers must fully state why they are accessing the database before they will be allowed to use it. The LPS has also added a warning page which reminds anyone accessing the database they must do so only for a police purpose. The service will also be doing quarterly audits of all accesses of the police database by LPS staff to ensure accountability.
“It’s to make sure people are using it only for police activities and nothing else,” summarized Mehdizadeh. 3
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