By Lara Fominoff @fomsy1 on Twitter

Lethbridge Police Chief updates council on new strategy and operations

Nov 15, 2017 | 1:18 PM

LETHBRIDGE – At Tuesday’s (Nov. 14) City Council meeting, Police Chief Rob Davis updated councillors on the new Lethbridge Police Service strategy, culture and operations plan, after speaking with media regarding potential concerns with the Lethbridge Police Association about two weeks prior.
 
The previous mission, values and vision had become stale, said Davis, as he addressed councillors. Rather than six beats across the city, there would now be just four. Officers would be assigned for a minimum of two years to those beats and staffing levels would need to be addressed.
 
“So they actually get to know the community, get to know the citizens, get to know the businesses that are open 24 hours, get to know who that newspaper delivery person is at three in the morning; get to know all those little nuances of that geographical area.”
 
Davis said he wanted officers to not only work from their vehicles, but to go to businesses, discover neighborhoods, explore alleys – on foot or bikes even – so they could really learn about their assigned areas.
 
Asked by council whether officers were ‘on board’ with the new changes and what would happen after the two years were over, Davis answered that some would want to change locations or become part of specialized units- but that he hoped they would stay in their areas for a longer period of time.
 
But there have been staffing concerns for years, according to the Lethbridge Police Association. The LPA cites an independent consultant’s report that identified the need for 87 officers dedicated to the front line, along with a number of other requirements. It’s something Davis told council was a “work in progress.”
 
“The next will be some staffing,” he said. “Right now we have 15 officers per team, that’s going to go up to 18 officers per team in January. We will then assess the numbers in the new year after around three months, we’ll negotiate with the Lethbridge Police Association to see if we have some other mechanisms where we can beef up the number of officers on the street. But there’s a number of steps that have to fall in place for this to happen.”
 
Still, LPA President Jay McMillan said previously, that the new strategy has left some officers with anxiety and confusion.
 
“We’ve been profoundly concerned about the safety of citizens due to the inadequate staffing levels for many, many years and we took Chief Davis at his word when he suggested that front line staff were the cornerstone of any good police service,” McMillan said. “The LPA is particularly concerned with the possible misrepresentation of a recent consultant report on staffing needs.”
 
Lethbridge News Now asked for a copy of the Independent Consultant’s report, which the police chief previously mentioned would be made available during his presentation to council. We were told by Davis, that the report would not be made available to the media for the foreseeable future.
 
“We’re not there yet…. there’s so many moving pieces to this, I can’t pin down a date right now.”
 
Davis made a similar presention the the Police Commission Oct. 25, and did so once again, at the request of Councillor Joe Mauro.
 
“He felt it was really important. We have a new council with two new members and Councillor Mauro loved the philosophy.”