LPS chief asks public not to judge force
By Lethbridge Herald on March 10, 2021.
Lethbridge Police Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh speaks during a news conference in Lethbridge, Alta., on Wednesday, March 10, 2021, to acknowledge matters being investigated in relation to officers doing unauthorized computer searches on local MLA Shannon Phillips. THE CANADIAN PRESS/David RossiterTim Kalinowski
Lethbridge Herald
tkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com
Lethbridge Chief of Police Shahin Mehdizadeh is asking members of the public not to judge the conduct of his officers, in relation to recent allegations that five of them, including Deputy Chief Scott Woods, and one civilian employee improperly accessed Lethbridge West MLA Shannon Phillips personal information during an 11-month period between 2017 and 2018, until all the facts are in.
“My commitment to all the citizens is we are dealing with them in the best way we can,” he told reporters on Wednesday, “but we also have to be respectful of these processes take time.”
Mehdizadeh, who only took over the job of Chief of Police six months ago, was asked about his personal reaction when he first heard about the allegations.
“My reaction is not to judge until I have the facts, and I have always gone with that principle,” he responded.
“And that is why I am asking the public, the media, to make sure we don’t make judgments. These investigations are unfolding, the evidence is going to come out, and my commitment is we will hold people, once the evidence is gathered, accountable.”
Mehdizadeh confirmed three of the officers and one civilian employee being investigated by ASIRT remain on duty pending the results of the investigation. One officer has since retired.
Mehdizadeh said another officer who is alleged to have accessed Phillips’ files for no police purpose has already been suspended for another matter. Details of which, Mehdizadeh said, would likely be made public soon.
“I don’t think the right process is to go ahead and suspend them,” Mehdizadeh said referring to those who remain on duty.
“Before making judgments, we need to have the facts to make that decision.”
Mehdizadeh did acknowledge the seriousness of the allegations and stated the Lethbridge Police Service’s commitment to “bias-free policing.” He stated the Lethbridge Police Service has in no way targeted Ms. Phillips for any official surveillance operations or investigations based on her politics, and officers who may have accessed her records inappropriately did so of their own volition.
“Information is power, and the police are trusted with a lot of information about our citizens we have in our databases,” he stated.
“And any time that trust is violated by any employee, it is a serious matter.”
Mehdizadeh also asked the public not to judge the whole organization based on the alleged misconduct of a few members.
“Obviously as these allegations are unfolding they do damage public trust in the organization,” he acknowledged. “We need to make sure to clean up the things we need to to move forward.
“Without that, we can’t move forward. By doing that, I believe we are going to be really drawing the line in the sand as to acceptable behaviour. When you talk about culture, what is culture?
Really the culture of an organization is defined by the worst behaviour you are willing to accept. Even though the department is going through rough times with these investigations moving forward, I still look at this as an opportunity for this department to make sure we are sending a clear message to all employees and the public that there are behaviours we will not tolerate.”
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Don’t judge the police force? Pretty hard to do when they are the ones we are depending on serve and protect us when things go wrong and allegations like this come out. You don’t like to judge human beings? That is literally in your job description chief. All eyes are on you now chief because as they say “The buck stops here”. I wish you luck in handling these allegations and bringing back public trust in our police service, it’s going to be a long road.
National news commentary after the police chief spoke indicated that what went on with the Phillips surveillance was stunning and very, serious. The Minister of Justice apparently, also basically indicated to the Lethbridge City Police force, “Time for talk is over, and told the Lethbridge police to shape up or face intervention.” Also, national news commentary made note that this police force has had a number of “missteps,” which is a polite but clear, and accurate, way to describe things.
Nothing like shinning a national spotlight on the “good ol Boys Club” to completely change the narrative