A new Integrated Offender Management program has been launched within the Lethbridge Police Service. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

LPS launches new program to reduce reoffending rates for prolific offenders

Oct 1, 2025 | 12:07 PM

The Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) says it will be giving the “worst of the worst” offenders in the city the chance to get help.

It has launched a new Integrated Offender Management (IOM) pilot program.

Constable Rob Saar says that approximately six-to-10 per cent of offenders in Alberta are responsible for up to 60 per cent of crime.

He adds that IOM will be similar, but different than the CompStat model, which uses data to determine high-crime areas and prolific offenders.

“We’re going to be more of a focused approach on a smaller group of individuals that are definitely causing a lot of problems, and they’ve done that over a sustained period of time. They’re very, what you would call prolific and prolonged in their crime,” says Saar.

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The biggest difference to CompStat is that officers with the IOM program will offer prolific offenders a range of supports.

Saar says offenders will have the option to seek services such as housing, mental health and addictions counselling, income support, and job training.

“If they agree that they want the help, I will do everything I can to put them in touch with the right people and make them successful,” says Saar. “If they choose not to participate, they’re still under the Integrated Offender Management program, and they will, unfortunately, just get the side of enforcement.”

The courts have been made aware of the IOM program in Lethbridge, and Saar says they will prepare detailed reports for judges that not only include their history of criminal activity, but also whether or not they accepted the supports that were offered to them.

According to Saar, this can help determine a person’s likelihood of reoffending, which could have an impact on their sentences.

Other jurisdictions that have implemented similar programs have seen their rates of reoffending fall by 35-40 per cent.

The IOM is a one-year partnership with the Alberta Government and is supported by $156,000 in provincial funding.

Saar says the program is scalable and can be used to help create similar initiatives in other communities.

READ MORE: Crimes involving prolific offenders down in Lethbridge thanks to data analysis tool