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Lethbridge City Councillor Blaine Hyggen and Mallory Kristjanson with Connecting Our Community Lethbridge. (Supplied by Mallory Kristjanson)

Collaboration & reporting crime leading to drug houses being shut down in Lethbridge

Jan 8, 2020 | 3:19 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – “It takes a community and that includes police officers, that includes SCAN, that includes municipal leadership to actually hear the residents’ voices, but it also takes us as the residents of Lethbridge to stand up against the crime that’s happening.”

Those are the words of Connecting Our Community Lethbridge (COCL) Spokesperson Mallory Kristjanson after a notorious drug house was shut down this week on Lethbridge’s west side.

LNN reported on Tuesday that a third drug house was shut down in Lethbridge in just one year, this time on Assiniboia Way. Nearly 60 calls for service were made for the property between January 2017 and October 2018, including for a home invasion, property damage, and open drug use involving needles.

Kristjanson says their group started up in July 2019 after becoming fed up with the increase in crime.

She wanted people to be reporting any incidents of crime or suspicious activity to police and the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) unit. City Councillor Blaine Hyggen says this ended up making a huge difference as he noticed many people complaining about crime on social media without notifying the proper authorities.

As COCL continued to develop, they ended up forming partnerships with various law enforcement agencies.

“We had regular patrol coming in through our collaboration,” says Kristjanson. “The Lethbridge Police Service actually came and attended our meetings to speak about the continued increase in crime. They knew that property and drug-related crime became extremely [intensified] on the north side of Lethbridge so we collaborated with them, officers checked in with neighbours. We also had SCAN come down and talk to many of our residents.”

While reporting crime to police will help to reduce criminal incidents in the future, Kristjanson believes the number one thing Lethbridge needs is a dedicated SCAN unit.

Right now, SCAN officers are based out of Calgary and have to balance enforcement in their city along with other communities like Lethbridge.

City council has been advocating the provincial government to open a dedicated SCAN unit in the city, but Hyggen says they have run into hurdles.

“Funding right now, from what we’ve heard, is not available for this area. We hope with this next budget that could be a possibility because the amount per capita of drug houses being shut down from what I’ve heard is much greater here in Lethbridge than it is in other communities.”

SCAN Inspector Mike Letourneau says they are currently investigating close to 50 complaints about homes throughout the city.

He adds that, of the five drug houses that were closed in southern Alberta last year, three were in Lethbridge.

At the end of the day, Kristjanson and Hyggen hope the public can stay vigilant and do their part to ensure the proper authorities are aware of what is happening.

The contact sheet below can tell you what is the right number to contact for any incidents of crime in Lethbridge.

Public Safety Contact Information. (Supplied by City of Lethbridge)