LPS Chief Rob Davis describes increase in drug-related crime while addressing gaps and new initiatives at CIC meeting
LETHBRIDGE – More crime and a larger homeless and drug-addicted population is fuelling more public complaints and a need for better provincial legislation for non-law enforcement and medical detention, says Lethbridge Police Chief Rob Davis.
Speaking at the Community Issues Committee meeting Monday, Oct. 1, from the enforcement perspective, Davis described to the committee what police are seeing and experiencing on a daily basis. Enforcement is one of the four pillars of addressing addiction. The others include harm reduction, treatment, and education and prevention.
“What the officers are reporting that they’re seeing is a large homeless population, transient population that’s intersected with the drug culture that appears to be increasing.”
Davis cited a statistic from ARCHES in 2017 that described an estimated 700 street involved homeless drug users out of a total of about 3,000 users in the city. He believes that number is now higher.