“Lethbridge is a safe community”: officials respond to Crime Severity Index report

The crime rate in Lethbridge last year was 9,836 per 100,000 population, a decrease of seven percent.

Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh says large numbers such as these can appear frightening, but they do not give the full picture of what it is like to live in the community.

“Lethbridge is a safe community. I say that, not because I’m the chief of police and I live here. This comes from experience of having lived in many, many communities in this country,” says Mehdizadeh. “I’ve lived in communities in Canada where, if we didn’t get a drive-by shooting in a week, people felt that their community was very safe.”

One facet of Statistics Canada’s report that was highlighted locally was the fact that Lethbridge had the highest rate of opioid-related crime in Canada.

Mehdizadeh explains that part of the reason why the reported number of opioid-related crimes is so high is that LPS is targeting illicit drugs as one of its top priorities.

“When we actually do much more work on crime reduction and drug enforcement, [it] obviously increases the number of those charges, which kind of adds to the negative things that are happening in the community,” says Mehdizadeh. “But the good news is that we are actually solving crimes. We are taking these drugs off the street.”

The police chief acknowledged that many people are frustrated with the so-called “catch and release” system, where police arrest suspects and the courts release them back into the community.

Mehdizadeh says he and his team are “constantly” engaged with the Ministry of Justice and the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service “to try to see how we can better work together to at least hold the people who need to be held more accountable, and also at the same time having people who need help to provide that support to them.”

Mayor Blaine Hyggen says the safety of the community is always the number one priority for city hall, “and this is why we take reports like this very seriously.”

Given the high level of opioid-related crime in Lethbridge, Hyggen stressed the importance of wrap-around social services such as housing and supports for mental health and addictions.

“We do continue to advocate at all levels of government for the much-needed social services, and push forward with the good work within the city and the LPS to maintain the high quality of life our residents expect,” says Hyggen.

As part of the City of Lethbridge’s 2021-2022 Operating Budget in late 2020, council approved a $1 million reduction in funding to LPS. Hyggen, who was a city councillor at the time, was opposed to the budget cut.

He remains in opposition and is planning on taking action to reverse the funding reduction.

“We’re going to be bringing a resolution forward in the fall to increase the police budget so they will have the adequate resources that they require to be able to help us through these times,” says Hyggen.

Whatever the funding increase will end up being, Hyggen states that it will not only put more boots on the ground, but will help with adding more social services.

Despite the issues with crime in Lethbridge that Hyggen acknowledges are problems, he agrees with Mehdizadeh’s assertion that the community as a whole is a safe place to live and do business.

by David Opinko

“Lethbridge is a safe community”: officials respond to Crime Severity Index report

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