Downtown Lethbridge (Lethbridge News NOW)

By Lara Fominoff

Public opinion survey shows fewer residents venturing into downtown Lethbridge – but overall LPS satisfaction

Jul 2, 2019 | 10:47 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A recently released study done by students at Lethbridge College’s Citizen Society Research Lab (CSRL), headed by Dr. Faron Ellis shows overall satisfaction with the job Lethbridge Police are doing, but also a marked decrease in the overall feeling of safety in the city’s downtown area.

The data, which is commissioned yearly by LPS, was collected between February 9-13, 2019, and surveyed 882 randomly selected adults by telephone. It’s considered accurate within 3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The study is divided into three main categories: Perceptions of Lethbridge Police Service, Community Safety and 911 dispatch.

Community Safety

According to the study, 19 per cent of Lethbridge residents visit the downtown area daily, down from a high of 23.6 per cent in 2006.

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Forty percent visit downtown Lethbridge weekly, compared with a high of 51.6 per cent in 2011, and 41 percent will visit monthly; just slightly lower than the high of 41.8 in 2017, but higher than most years when the surveys began in 2006. Very few people said they never go downtown – just under 7 per cent.

Of those who will visit the downtown are regularly, most are students, university graduates and lower income earners. Just over 47 per cent of those are ages 18-44, while 20 per cent of those between the ages of 44 and 64 visit regularly.

Less than 10 per cent of those ages 65 and older will venture downtown regularly.

The study’s executive summary states:

“Residents’ feelings of safety are diminishing rapidly and are much lower than their feelings of safety in their own neighborhoods. More than two of every five Lethbridge residents (42 per cent) now feel unsafe in downtown, with most of those (30.6 per cent) feeling somewhat unsafe. But, for the first time in a decade, more than one in ten residents (12.4 per cent) feels very unsafe when visiting the downtown.”

Police Chief Rob Davis hopes that with the initiation of the Ambassador Watch Program and the Community Policing Program, those numbers will change.

“Next year, we’ll have had The Watch and the CPOs out there – they rolled out in May – so we’ll have had them out there from May til next year’s survey date. And I fully expect that we’ll see a different survey result next year.”

More than half of those surveyed in the study also believe Lethbridge Police should be involved in more community policing activities while on duty.

Other than the downtown area, most residents felt either very safe or somewhat safe in their neighborhoods, with west Lethbridge residents feeling the safest (97.9 per cent), followed by north Lethbridge (91.3 per cent), and south Lethbridge (89.6 per cent).

Overall Policing and 911 Activities

According to the study, most people – 64 per cent – feel Lethbridge Police are doing a good job policing their community, a two per cent decrease from the same time last year, but a nearly 10 per cent drop from a high of 73.4 per cent in 2017.

Around 30 per cent feel LPS is doing an “adequate” job.

Generally, women, university graduates, seniors, and those who visit downtown Lethbridge most often, rate LPS higher. Men, upper income earners, those who are less well educated and younger residents are less positive.

Among those who rated LPS poorly (6.7 per cent), many cited drugs activity/trafficking, the supervised consumption site and downtown safety and overall crime rates as their reasons for doing so.

The majority of residents across all demographics feel that LPS officers are polite and respectful (92.6 per cent).

Most Lethbridge residents (86.6 per cent) also say that the Public Safety Communications Centre (PSCC) where 911 dispatchers work, performed in either a somewhat or very satisfactory manner.

To view the study in its entirety, go to: https://www.lethbridge.ca/living-here/Emergency-Services/Documents/Police%20Minutes/2019-06-26%20Open%20Agenda%20Package.pdf