Website details map of criminal activity in city

By Chris Hibbard - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on November 9, 2023.

Do you ever wonder about crime rates in Lethbridge and what the Lethbridge Police Service is kept busy with?
Thanks to a handy website called CityProtect.com, any interested Lethbridge resident can visit the website, find our local police agency and then explore the submitted crime data on a map.
Users can set filters and parameters to check for different types of crime, dates they occurred, and using the map, can see where in our city these crimes occurred.
The Lethbridge Police Service is the only police agency in southern Alberta that is viewable via the website, meaning that similar statistics from Calgary, Medicine Hat and Red Deer are unavailable for comparison at this time.
The Herald set filters only for the month of October 2023 to get a realistic snapshot of what police were called to deal with in Lethbridge in just a 30-day period. The statistics speak for themselves.
First,some good news. In the month of October 2023, police reported no homicides, no kidnappings and no vehicle thefts.
According to the site, police also reported no property crimes including breaking and entering, or thefts from commercial or residential properties.
Now for the bad news. In the month of October, LPSs reported approximately 50 occurrences of assault or assault with a deadly weapon.
Breaking the information down further, of these Assaults nine occurred on the westside, nine in south Lethbridge, 20 on the northside and 14 in the downtown core.
A majority of these assaults were responded to in the area between 6th Ave. S. and 6th Ave. North.
In the month of October, LPSs reported 19 occurrences of sexual offenses.
Breaking the information down further, of these sexual offences four occurred on the westside, seven on the southside, four on the northside and five in the downtown core.
In the month of October, LPS reported six occurrences of robbery. Breaking the information down further, of these robbery offences, two occurred on the westside, one in the south, one in the north and two in the downtown core.
In the month of October, LPS reported 39 occurrences of Theft From Vehicle. Breaking the information down further, of these Theft From Vehicle Offenses: 4 occurred on the West Side, 14 in the South, 11 on the North side and 9 in the downtown core.
In the month of October, LPS reported approximately 135 occurrences of Other Theft, described on the CityProtect website as Taking or Attempting to Take Another Persons Property. Breaking the information down further, of these Other Theft Offences: 20 occurred on the West Side, 50 in the South, 50 on the North side and 15 in the downtown core. Based on the website’s map tool, a very large cluster of these offences were reported within a 5 block radius of the homeless shelter located on 2nd Ave. N. and Stafford Drive.
In the month of October, LPS reported approximately 200 occurrences of 911 or Other. These are described on the website as relating to Quality of Life calls, Proactive Policing, and General Incidents related to drugs, liquor and disorder. Breaking the information down further, of these 911/Other Offenses, the communities in the deep North corners and deep South corners of our city (such as Legacy/Black Wolf and Fairmont/Six Mile) reported the least, with the majority occurring in that region between 5th Ave. N. And 6th Ave. S.
While the Herald cannot confirm the complete accuracy of what the website has shown, it does at the very least provide a little bit of insight into crime in our community and shows us what our police officers have to deal with on a monthly basis. Adding all the reports together, officers responsed to approximately 450 incidents in our fair city in just one single calendar month.

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