LPS requesting 15 new officer positions
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on September 29, 2022.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
The Lethbridge Police Service is reaching the breaking point and needs more staff to meet the needs of a growing city.
That was the message made to the Economic Standing Policy Committee meeting of Lethbridge city council on Wednesday as it listened to budget requests from city boards and commissions.
The entirety of city council acts as the committee. Councillor Rajko Dodic, who sent his regrets through mayor Blaine Hyggen, was absent from the meeting.
Through police commission chair Rob VanSpronsen and LPS chief Shahin Mehdizadeh, the SPC was asked to approve a budget increase of $1.1 million a year over the next four years.
The money, if approved, will pay for 15 new police officers and 15.5 civilian staff to do the work that is increasingly being done by force members.
LPS wants to hire two new officers in 2023, seven in 2024 and six more by 2025.
Mehdizadeh called civilian staff the pillar of the police structure and without that pillar, the structure will crumble with civilians doing an enormous amount of work to assist police in their duties.
The last increase to the police force came in 2014 while the population has increased by 16,000, councillor John Middleton-Hope pointed out. He said the police should be asking for 32 officers but Mehdizadeh said the force recognizes the financial pressures of the City and wants to be realistic.
Mehdizadeh said that absence of an increase in staff is why the LPS is on the path to a crisis state.
When comparing the size of the LPS to forces in other comparably sized communities in Canada, the city force should have about 212 on staff, instead of the 187 that it will employ if the budget increase is granted, the SPC was told.
The LPS presently has 165 on staff with a budget that is based on 172 employees. The SPC was told the police are dealing with such challenges as burnout with sick and medical leaves increasing. Overtime, says Mehdizadeh, is “through the roof.” And some officers are looking at retirement as they reach 25 years with the service.
LPS also needs more help on the recruitment front as it competes with other forces to attract new members. The person who does the recruiting also processes applications which takes time, the SPC heard.
And the province is regularly changing its standards, mandating recently that all forces must have a sex crime co-ordinator, with the funding for that position coming from force budgets, Mehdizadeh said.
Without increased manpower, Mehizadeh said there will be a negative impact on safety in the community. As Lethbridge continues to grow, said the chief, the demands on police will continue to grow.
If the budget isn’t increased, the police could be forced to cut a unit to meet its budget, the SPC heard.
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18-17
They should ask for more and hire 15 new officers today, not over the next number of years.
Agreed , hire more than 15!!
The last Council cut the police budget by more than $1 million, so the budget should be increased by more than $1 million!
When police write tickets they do not go to the police force, those funds when collected are given to the city, but if I remember correctly, the province takes some of those revenues.
I can see thousands of dollars per day in fines just for traffic violations: speeding, racing, illegal backing up out of parking spaces across 2 lanes to go the opposite way downtown, illegal tint on windows, obscured license plates and many more violates that would easily go into the city coffers to pay for the increase in budgets.
We need our city back and to do that we need more law enforcement!
I would vote NO to this request . Use the staffing you have and only do essential policing.Might seem mind boggling to some , but lotta stuff cops do are total waste of time and money. Mindless tickets and harassing people because they can is useless. The unwarranted nit-picking at street wheelers is a prime example. Some-one doing a burn out at a light is not a hazard or danger in any way. There are countless more examples.Do the important stuff. Protect the public, stop theft and vandalism, recover stolen property, get drugs off the streets.