Lethbridge Police Car

By Lara Fominoff

Lethbridge Police caution against vigilantism in wake of numerous theft, property crimes

Sep 20, 2019 | 2:44 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge Police are cautioning residents against any acts of vigilantism in the wake of the number of residential property crimes, thefts and vehicle break-ins over the last several months.

Sergeant Bruce Hagel spoke with LNN and said Lethbridge Police officers understand many people are extremely frustrated with uninvited guests coming into their yards, taking bikes regularly – and other items of worth – but no one should take the law into their own hands.

“We with the police service understand that people can get very frustrated, and we understand that. If they’ve been victimized – and a lot of times especially property crimes – coming into the yard, stealing their things or damaging property, you know, that’s very frustrating, obviously causes anger and fear and anxiety and things like that. But no, we don’t want anybody to take the law into their own hands. Call the police. Get descriptions of people if you can, and the police will respond.”

He says there are several things people can and should do every day, to at least try and prevent their property from being stolen, including:

• Locking garage doors – don’t leave them open or unlocked
• Removing garage door openers from vehicles
• Removing valuables in your vehicles or money from plain sight
• Adding locks to gates
• Adding motion sensor lights, cameras or house alarms if needed
• Locking vehicle doors and rolling up windows
• Hiding or putting away bags of recyclables like bottles and cans

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Hagel concedes that hundreds if not thousands of people on popular local neighborhood watch or area crime watch pages are sharing information, and that can be a good tool if laws aren’t being broken.

Programs like the CPOs and The Watch Programs were created to help reduce the amount of crime in parts of the city and he says so far, they appear to be making a difference.

However, when asked whether the problems may simply be displaced and move into other areas – that may be a concern.

“Sometimes it does (occur). A heavy police presence can displace some people who are intent on committing crimes and doing things like that. But we rely on the community to help. And you know, there’s been some of those neighborhood watches and things like that, and that’s helped…certainly that has the potential to occur.”

Overall, he says officers support local community watches and the work that they are doing.

“Obviously the intention is for those citizens to want to be in a safe neighborhood which absolutely everybody wants, including the police, so to discuss issues for the neighbours or the community…those people have some great intel about what’s going on in the community.”

He explains that the more information they have, the better off each community can be.

“If you’ve been a victim of a crime, no matter how insignificant you think it is, definitely call.”

Statistics on the number and types of crimes in each part of the city for the summer months aren’t available yet, but they may be included in the agenda for the upcoming Police Commission Meeting Sept. 25.