The Medicine Hat Police Service's Safe Families Intervention Team handled nearly 120 calls for service in December alone, helping to locate and support victims and leading to 16 charges laid.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Each month members of the Medicine Hat Police Commission are provided several graphs of data that include the number of files each department handled in the previous month.
This information is useful in tracking how active police officers are within the community every month and provides a demographic on crime rates within the city.
However, that data also represents work done by MHPS staff members and teams training to work with victims of crime and of the 118 total calls the Safe Families Intervention Team (SFIT) received in December.
Most of the daily work members of the SFIT perform involves administrative work, explained Insp. Joe West on Wednesday during the Medicine Hat Police Commission’s first public meeting of 2026, however sometimes staff members go above and beyond their office duties.
Typically SFIT members review domestic violence files, making sure investigations are carried out properly. They also work directly with victims of domestic abuse and help provide them support and services.
“But in this instance there had been a very serious domestic assault that had been investigated,” said West, who says SFIT members were trying to get in touch with the victim regarding her upcoming court date.
“And they couldn’t locate the victim, they had some problems getting ahold of her, they didn’t know if she had a cellphone or not,” added West.
The SFIT constable was able to locate the victim who was “in the state of not hiding, but certainly very difficult to be found,” said West, adding she was living in less than ideal conditions and did not own a phone.
A pet was also located with the victim.
After finding the victim a co-ordinated team effort began with Children and Family Services, the SPCA and Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society to provide income support, housing and a cellphone.
“It was a really good example of some of the behind-the-scenes work our SFIT unit does and that they do go into the field and sometimes get involved in these investigations,” said West. “But this all came about ensuring that person had the proper court support and trying to contact her.”
Crime Report
In total the MHPS received 2,395 calls for service in December, up 50 from November. Compared to December 2024, calls for thefts from vehicles, mischief and fraud rose, while other theft-related calls dipped slightly.
Police monitored a total of 662 vehicles and gave out 23 traffic safety and immediate roadside sanction tickets during its December 2025 Holiday Check Stop campaign.
Additionally, police provided 151 traffic safety warnings and three IRS warnings to motorists.
The Municipal Enforcement Section responded to 380 total calls in December including 171 road safety calls.
The Forensic Identification Unit filed 172 reports last month. The Downtown Patrol Unit responded to 84 calls, including five related to properties.
The K9 unit responded to four calls last month while school resource officers handled a total of 1,095 duties.
The Victims Assistance Unit helped 57 people while the The Safe Families Intervention Team handled 118 total calls leading to 16 charges. The Family Crime Unit conducted 13 interviews and the Cyber Crime Unit analyzed 10 devices.
