Lethbridge Police vehicle. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Lethbridge Police dealing with frustrations on enforcement, court system

Jul 22, 2019 | 3:48 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Members of the Lethbridge Police Service spoke to city council Monday to talk about keeping the downtown core safe, among other topics.

This comes on the heels of Stats Canada’s report Monday morning that Lethbridge had the highest crime severity index rating in the country in 2018. More details here. Police Chief Rob Davis said at the meeting that they did not have sufficient time to review the data and are therefore not providing any comments at this time.

A theme that came up numerous times at council is frustration.

St. Robin Klassen is the head of the Downtown Policing Unit and says she and her team are doing everything they can to enforce crime in the area.

A lot of the time, however, she claims that they are able to arrest key players in the drug trade, but are often released from custody until their trial starts. According to her, doing this is entirely up to the courts and not police.

What's Happening in Lethbridge this week: November 12-17, 2024

Nov 12, 2024

What's Happening in Lethbridge this week: November 4-10, 2024

Nov 04, 2024

What's Happening in Lethbridge this week: October 28-November 3, 2024

Oct 28, 2024

“There is, sometimes, that delay before their court case where they are out in the public and they are able to continue to commit crimes. Sometimes there are conditions that help with that, but again, our times are held until that process is done.”

Lethbridge News Now reported earlier this month that $11.2-million that was promised by the previous provincial government for a rehabilitative housing project is now under review by the new administration. It is unclear if or when that funding might become available.

Sgt. Klassen believes that would do a lot to get people who are addicted to drugs off the streets and, hopefully, on a positive path in life.

“It is kind of a revolving door where we’re seeing people over and over again, but in my mind, I can see in the future and hopefully there will be those resources there we can actually help people and get them into detox and treatment and recovery and to where they need to be so they’re not on the street doing that anymore and having to feed their addiction and maybe going to the property crime.”

In the mean time, Klassen is urging members of the public to report any incidents of drug activities they see in the community. This can be done by calling the Lethbridge Police Service complaints line at 403-328-4444 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Both are appreciated, but when you go talk to police, they are able to follow up on their conversations with you in the hopes that they can build a compelling case in court.

When it comes to public reporting to the detachment, however, those in attendance at the council meeting were not amused.

Mayor Chris Spearman told the presenters that it was great to hear that police are doing a great job at listening to complaints and following up on them seriously. This comment resulted in laughter from several members of the public gallery.

“It’s something that, as police officers, we always face in regards to the public not being happy with what we do,” says Klassen. “We do arrest people and that makes other people unhappy and we do the best job we can when we’re doing an investigation, but it doesn’t maybe always come with the outcome that people want to see. We’re always working on projects, we’re always trying to make neighbourhoods better, but it does take time.”

Klassen said that they always appreciate any tips they can get from the public, but a simple social media post is not enough to hold up in court. She is encouraging anyone who has photos or videos of something happening to talk to police directly.