Lethbridge No. 1 on StatCan Crime Index; Police Chief points out city’s rating is on downward trend
By Lethbridge Herald on August 2, 2022.
Herald photo by Al Beeber
Lethbridge Police Service Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh speaks at City Hall about the Statistics Canada Crime Severity Index report that was released Tuesday.Al Beeber – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – abeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
Lethbridge is ranked No. 1 on the 2021 Statistics Canada Crime Statistics Index but numbers are dropping from 2020.
Lethbridge topped the nation with an index rating of 128.65 but that’s a 7.13 per cent drop from 2020.
Kelowna, B.C. was second on the national list at 122.3 but that city experienced a 10 per cent increase. Winnipeg, Man., Regina, Sask. and Thunder Bay, Ont. followed.
Lethbridge had a CSI rating for violent crime of 114.25 which was a 2.69 per cent increase over 2020. In contrast, the city’s 2020 rating experienced an 8.60 jump from 2019. Nationwide, the violent crime CSI rose by five per cent in 2021 which StatsCan attributed in part due to higher rates of Level One sexual assault, homicide, as well as harassing and threatening behaviour and other factors.
The city’s non-violent CSI rating was 133.53, which was a 9.78 drop from 2020, continuing a trend from 2020 when the level of that type of crime dropped 4.79 per cent from 2019. Nationwide the non-violent CSI dropped three per cent following a reduction of nine per cent in 2020.
Those two years of drops followed five straight years of increases.
Lethbridge and Kelowna had the highest rates of opioid offences reported to police in 2021.
Lethbridge Police Service chief Shahin Mehdizadeh told media on Tuesday at City Hall the drops are good news but there is still more work to do.
He pointed out that Lethbridge proper is lumped into the CSI rate with surrounding communities and has no control over crime in those other municipalities.
He said the new rating is good news from his perspective.
“Anytime you have a continuous downward trend in crime severity index and crime in general in the community is always good news,” said the chief.
“The good news is we’re still on the downward trend which we’ll really celebrate. We still have a lot of work to do because we still on No. 1 but the good thing is that we are going down and other communities are not going down or some are actually going up,” said Mehdizadeh.
Mayor Blaine Hyggen told media the police has a lack of resources because of the $1 million budget cut made by previous city council.
That lack of resources doesn’t help with the community concerns, said the mayor, a matter that is important to council which will be bringing forward a motion in the fall to increase the LPS budget so they will have the adequate resources needed to help the city get through difficult times.
The police chief said much of what drives the CSI ranking in the city is property-related crime, such as break-and-enters, not violent crime. And that index just doesn’t include the city itself.
“Obviously we’re No. 1 but we also have to realize that when you look at the geographic area, it’s not just the city of Lethbridge – they are combining rural areas around Lethbridge,” the chief said of StatsCan.
“When you look at the city of Lethbridge, it’s on a major downward trend which we have to celebrate. The bad news is we’re still No. 1, the good news is we’re going down.”
The chief said the LPS has been doing a lot of work in enforcement, collaboration and community partnerships.
Mehdizadeh said since he’s been chief, the LPS has modernized the way it does police work here. He said the LPS has identified where resources are best utilized and who should be targeted more such as prolific offenders who cause more harm to the community.
He added the next phase is putting a greater emphasis on prolific offender management and how the police can deal with them.
The chief said since he’s been here the crisis team was expanded to two, the police created the youth engagement team to provide at-risk youth with more timely and year-round services to help them get on the right path. He said The Watch has played a role in being eyes and ears of the LPS and serve the community well.
The opioid crisis being experienced here is not isolated to Lethbridge in the country, said the chief.
“In Lethbridge, we’ve really listened to what the citizens are telling us, that’s the No. 1 issue for them.”
Because of that, the LPS has increased its enforcement action, hence the higher CSI numbers.
When police do more work on crime reduction and drug enforcement, that increases the number of charges.
“But the good news is that we’re actually solving crime. We are taking these drugs off the street” with the LPS seizing historic amounts of opioids in the last few months, said the chief. The city may get punished for that on the CSI rankings because the police is doing the work.
He said property crimes could be reduced by residents locking doors, closing garage doors and not leaving keys in their vehicles.
Mehdizadeh said he’s lived in many places in Canada and Lethbridge is a safe community.
Hyggen said “the health and safety of our community is always our No. 1 priority and this is why we take reports like this very seriously.
“Although still the highest crime severity index by census metropolitan areas, the rates are trending down which is a positive sign.
“Unfortunately, this isn’t a new challenge for us. We’ve been experiencing high CSI rates over the last several years which speaks to the ongoing drug crisis and crime that is associated with it. This is not just a policing issue; it’s complex and requires a collaboration of areas like addictions and mental health, supportive housing, health care, the legal system and of course our own city programs and services that contribute toward a better solution.
“We do continue to advocate at all levels of government for much-needed social services and push forward with the good work within the city and the LPS to maintain the high quality of life our residents expect.
“We know currently the encampments that we’ve heard so much about and the associated safety risks in these areas is a concern in the community,” said the mayor calling these complex issues that require support from multiple levels of government.
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With due respect to the Chief who inherited a disaster made worse by 4 years of NDP stupidity , to suggest we celebrate being #1 IN CRIME is truly putting lipstick on a pig. The previous City Council and its hangovers still serving on the present Council saw fit to strip funding from the Police budget letting the criminal element run rampant while they put their focus on keeping us safe with green bins and front lane garbage pickup.
When you are “at the Top”, ” Number One”, “King of the Hill” the only way to go is down but some council members seem determined to ensure we do not get knocked off this dubious pedestal.
Mr Mayor, you and your Council were elected to deal with these ” complex issues”. Quit allowing some to pass the buck, kick the can down the road and refusing to put a name to the problem for reasons of ” political correctness”. If any of you are unwilling to do the job you were elected to do, resign and allow us to replace you with someone who has a backbone.
Until then we will continue to triple lock our doors, put logging chains on our bikes and barbed wire on our fences so the free sandwich, free water , free clothes and boo hoo tent crowd keep their mitts off property others worked to buy .
Celebrate indeed !!!
Excellent comments. Regarding council the ones we replaced were replaced with ones of the same mindset, ergo, nothing changes.