Incoming chief honoured and humbled to be joining LPS

Mehdizadeh said after more than three decades in policing – he first joined the RCMP in Banff in 1989 – the decision to come to Lethbridge made sense to him both personally and professionally.

“[The new role] gives me that stability in life to be in one community and serve the rest of my time as a police officer in this community.”

Mehdizadeh was born in Iran, but his family was forced to flee the country in 1979. He then lived in New Delhi, India from 1979 to 1984 before coming to Canada on May 7, 1984.

“This country allowed me to come here to make a life for myself,” he said, adding that his career so far has taken him across the nation.

“I worked in the Banff detachment when I first joined the RCMP in 1989; went to the Calgary Drug Section, Fort McMurray General Investigation Unit, a full-time undercover unit in British Columbia, then went to Regina,” Mehdizadeh explained.

He said when his daughter was born, he took a position as a corporal teaching Applied Police Sciences at the RCMP Academy, Depot Division in Saskatchewan.

“Then I went as a Sergeant to [the] Coquitlam detachment in charge of drugs, marijuana enforcement and robbery units. Then, I became a Staff Sergeant in Organized Crime, CFSEU in British Columbia [B.C.’s anti-gang agency]. For a short time, I was in charge of the Motorcycle Gang Unit in B.C. before I took my commission to the Burnaby detachment as an Inspector in charge of Investigative Services – all the plain clothes,” he said.

“Then, I went to Manitoba to be the District Commander in one of the districts in Manitoba, then in 2016, I came back to Alberta for my second tour. I was a District Officer in east district and then two and a half years ago, I went to the Central District in Alberta.”

COMMUNITY SAFETY

Mehdizadeh said one of his goals will be to bring a sense of community safety to Lethbridge.

He noted that the challenges seen in Lethbridge can be witnesses in many other parts of the country.

“Crime is always going to be there. We [will] never have a crime-free environment or a location anywhere in the world, but it’s how we manage that and how we actually deal with it and live day to day so our citizens feel safe and they can get on with their daily activities and enjoy their life,” he remarked.

Mehdizadeh said he wants to hear from residents on what their definition of ‘safe’ is, so the LPS can properly address residential concerns.

As for how he plans to lead officers and employees with the Lethbridge Police Service, he said he will always maintain an open-door policy.

“I want to engage with every Lethbridge Police Service employee – uniform or non-uniform. It’s critical for me to be present and visible with the employees internally just to make sure I hear what they have to say, what they have to contribute and listen to their ideas because as a newcomer, I want to learn from them, I want to know what works here and encourage them to be innovative and bring ideas so we can serve the community better,” he said on Friday morning.

He added that along with ensuring a sense of community safety, he wants to be visible in the city and make sure residents feel comfortable with him.

“We all work for our citizens because that is who is actually hiring us to perform a duty. I want to keep that as a team concept. Leadership to me is not about your rank, your title, those things don’t buy you power. Rank and title, they just give you levels of accountability. The higher you go, the higher the accountability you have and my accountability as a chief here will be to every employee in the Lethbridge Police Service and also every citizen in this community,” Mehdizadeh said.

RACISM IN POLICING

Mehdizadeh touched on systemic racism and racism in policing, admitting that he believes racism is something that will be around for “centuries to come”.

“The good news is that we live in a country that is forward enough of how we deal with diversity and inclusion moving forward. When you look at the history, we’ve taken huge strides to deal with those issues, but it’s never going to be perfect,” he said.

“When you look at systemic racism, we are looking at things that we do in our daily lives that may have been okay many, many years ago but as the civilization it’s progressing, they’re not appropriate today.”

As far as policing goes, Mehdizadeh said it’s important that every citizen and suspect in a crime is treated equally. He said no one should be treated solely based on their race, religion or background.

“Police work is about…how we protect our communities, how we protect our citizens from actions and behaviours of the criminals, so that’s what we need to focus on – look at the actions and behaviours, not the skin colour or background,” he explained.

He noted that everyone has a right to think what they want to think, however, when it comes to a workplace, especially policing, any thoughts of discrimination must be checked at the door to ensure equal treatment of all citizens.

POLICE FUNDING

Defunding of police has been a topic of discussion for quite some time. Mehdizadeh said it’s a concept he somewhat agrees with, but “it all depends on what that definition will be.”

“Over the years, a lot of social issues and problems have come on the police’s shoulders to deal with. So, when you talk about defunding, there needs to be critical discussions. If the funds are diverted from the police to [another] agency or department, what is [it] that the police is going to stop doing to manage their day to day level of service and provide the service the community deserves,” he asked.

SUPERVISED CONSUMPTION SITE

As for how he plans on handling the issues surrounding Lethbridge Supervised Consumption Site (SCS), Mehdizadeh said he will need to get a closer first-hand look at those issues to formulate a plan to address certain issues around the SCS.

“We want to be respectful of people because obviously, there’s a medical issue they have as far as addiction, and they have to be dealing with that in a safe environment. When police has to daw the line is when folks, their behaviour becomes criminal and hurts other people in the community,” he said.

“The fact that some people may fear to come downtown and enjoy their downtown in this beautiful city, that’s a problem. So, we have to see how we can actually work both with the people who have addiction issues and they need to be treated and supported from that perspective and making sure they are not committing crimes to victimize the good citizens of this community so they can actually come and enjoy their downtown.”

Mehdizadeh said that although police play a critical role in ensuring the safety of a community, it’s a team effort with residents, business owners and city officials.

The incoming chief will fill the role left behind by Rob Davis, who left the LPS in July 2019. Since Davis’ departure, Scott Woods has served as Lethbridge Police’s interim chief.

by Justin Goulet

Incoming chief honoured and humbled to be joining LPS

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