File photo taken outside of the Lethbridge Police Service station on May 23, 2022. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By Justin Goulet

Community survey shows overall support for the Lethbridge Police Service

Jul 29, 2022 | 8:43 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) has received the results of the 2022 Community Survey. Results show that more than three-quarters of respondents are satisfied with the services provided by the local police department.

The phone survey was conducted by IPSOS last spring and gathered feedback from residents on their perspectives of the LPS, community safety and citizen priorities that will assist the service as it plans for the next four years. Residents were called on their landlines and mobile phones.

READ MORE: Community survey on the Lethbridge Police Service starts Thursday

LPS Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh said, “Effective community policing requires an ongoing dialogue with our citizens and a collaborative approach to identifying community needs and problem-solving.”

He continued, ““Understanding perceptions and priorities is key to identifying potential gaps and taking steps to ensure our work to create a safe community for all is meeting the needs of our residents.”

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78% of respondents indicated that they were satisfied with the services provided by Lethbridge Police. 86% ranked the service’s performance as adequate to good. A total of 14% rated the overall performance of the LPS as poor to very poor, with high crime rate and slow response times among the top reasons why they made that assessment.

84% of respondents ranked both the level of professionalism by LPS officers and their ability meeting expectations to keep the community safe was good to very good.

When respondents were asked about perceptions of safety, 71% said Lethbridge is a safe community overall. However, directional comparisons with previous surveys shows a downward trend, according to the LPS. Specifically, perceptions of safety before 2020 consistently tracked above 90%.

Some of the top reasons cited for this were drugs, an increase in crime, homelessness and police staffing issues. The LPS said that nearly one in four respondents also indicated that the service was understaffed.

Property crime, drug crime and crimes against persons were identified as the top three policing priorities. A majority of the survey respondents indicated that they would like to see police focus more on crime prevention strategies and increase visibility in the community. Around one-third of respondents said they would also like to see more traffic enforcement.

Chief Mehdizadeh said, “While our overall crime rate decreased in 2021 compared to the previous year, we know opportunistic crimes such as property crimes continue to have a significant impact.”

He stated, “We’re committed to continuing to work with the community on strategies to help address the root causes of these crimes, reduce opportunities and increase the overall capacity of LPS.”

Full results are available from the Lethbridge Police Service website.