LPS hoping Council maintains crime suppression initiatives

Feb 4, 2020 | 12:54 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB- Lethbridge City Council sitting as Community Issues Committee on Monday (Feb 3), heard numerous presentations from local organizations and businesses, including the Lethbridge Police Service.

Lethbridge Police gave councillors an update on plans for its three newer programs: The Watch, Community Peace Officers, and the Police and Crisis Team.

With the Watch and the CPO’s still being relatively new to the Police Service, starting in 2019, there are still concerns that arise.

Acting Chief of LPS Scott Woods knows that since the programs are still in their early stages, there is room to grow and plans still to be hashed out.

“Part of the problem, to be frank, is that one of the threats to these programs is that when you have funding that is not fully secure, it does make it a bit challenging to bring people in because they’re not sure if they are going to have a job or not by the end of November this year, it’ll create some challenges for us to bring people in whether it’s the Watch or the CPO.”

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Programs like the Watch and the CPO’s are expected to help suppress crime within the city in areas such as downtown, it’s outskirts and the Park Place Mall area.

When asked about whether The Watch is helping the city yet, Woods had good news.

“Well in my opinion it’s doing really well, we’ve had a lot of good feedback, it’s out and about and it’s helping people with all kinds of services within the community.”

At the end of the day, Woods remains confident with the purpose of the new programs that the LPS have put in place.

by Connor Gunn