Downtown resident outlines encampment issues

By Lethbridge Herald on November 1, 2022.

Herald photo Graffiti is seen on a downtown building. A city resident has talked to the police commission about downtown issues.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
LETHBRIDGE HERALD
apulido@lethbridgeherald.com

A concerned Lethbridge resident spoke about his personal experience with the encampment that was located at the old Civic Centre parking lot at the Lethbridge Police Commission meeting last week. 

Barry Ewing, who is a resident of downtown just three blocks away from City Hall, said he has lived in the area for over 15 years and has worked in security working directly with addicts and homeless for several hundred hours in the last couple of years. 

“My concerns today regarding the encampment, residency addicts, and homeless issues that need for additional police actions to resolve these issues, and to take back our city from organized crime factions, the gangs, the addicts and the homeless,” said Ewing.

He said he has had the opportunity to work with many Lethbridge Police Service members through the course of his duties in security who he argues have often faced burnout from dealing with many issues in the past five years on our streets due to understaffing.

“Often when I had to call the police to attend, there were only eight to 10 members on patrol for the whole city of over a 100,000 due to various staffing issues,” said Ewing. 

He believes this is unacceptable at a time when the city has been facing issues from the drug crisis that has cost its citizens millions of taxpayer dollars, in many cases destroying businesses in the downtown area giving the city a bad reputation, and increased crime and organized crime destroying countless lives, venues and parks. 

Ewing argues this has created stress throughout the community in many ways. 

“Every year more of our city has been given up to the banding criminals while council continues to pump millions into downtown to revitalize it. In the last five years they pumped $54 million into arts facilities and revitalization projects,” said Ewing. 

He said people avoid the downtown areas because of the homeless issues, crime, panhandling, drug use and offensive sights. 

“The City of Lethbridge spends millions for security in The Watch program and efforts to alleviate some of those concerns, but the issues continue to grow along with the cost. It’s time to return to taking a hard stance against drugs, while the government moves on from a failed attempt of harm reduction that currently kills almost 200 people per month from fatal overdoses,” said Ewing.

He believes we need to get back to effective policing that helped to control this by returning to the hard stance on illicit drug use.

“These encampment issues only increase along with the increased mental health issues from drug use. 

“Allowing the encampments will only attract more people to the area and more communities dumping their homeless on us,” said Ewing. 

He said that a 2016 survey in Vancouver showed 16 per cent of the homeless reported there were from an area elsewhere in metro Vancouver, 31 per cent from another area of British Columbia and 44 per cent from another area of Canada. 

“Efforts were made to find shelter or treatment for those in the Lethbridge encampment, but many refused, while some briefly tried to offer services, then declined to return to the encampments,” said Ewing. 

He said multiple pleas have been made and complaints filed with LPS to remove criminals in their tents who used the encampment as a base of operations. 

“These are not the city’s most vulnerable, but criminals. Mostly from their addictions, who commit crimes to support their addiction, with no alternative deterrence this group has become more lawless, taking over areas and intimidating, threatening and even assaulting the people who live and work in those areas,” said Ewing.

He said in the last five years he has witnessed the homeless take over Galt Gardens, the downtown public library, the Park ’n’ Ride, the Bowman Centre and now the old YMCA site and Civic Centre. 

“Allowing this has only compounded the issues. What I’ve observed in the last year was a growing aggressiveness of the addicts and homeless increasing to a point that this spring, as I noted in my incident reports, they are lawless and the police do not arrest them for outstanding fines, which only increases their ability and drive to grow as criminals,” said Ewing. 

He believes that the lack of accountability makes it acceptable in their minds to be criminals. 

“I personally notice this spring, with the changes from having no deterrents, many had to deal with public urination, defecation on their property, and often in front of them. Walking beside the Civic Centre track on 11 Street, myself and others witnessed some parked in their vehicles being serviced by prostitutes in broad daylight,” said Ewing. 

He concluded by saying that he does not agree with the fact that Lethbridge has adequate and effective policing provided to our citizens.

After the presentation the floor was open for questions. Commission member Dawna Coslovi had a question but it was directed to the Lethbridge Police members present. 

“I would like to know what the LPS’ role is vis-a-vis this encampment and perhaps Inspector Dobirstein could explain what their role is,” said Coslovi.

He said ultimately the police’s role in in many things within the community is to keep the peace and maintain public order.

“In terms of the encampment oftentimes that is their role,” said Dobirstein. 

He explained that there are bylaws that impact some of the encampments depending on where they are located such as in a park, and then there are trespassing rules in terms of some other locations.

“The police can’t enforce either one of those, and in addition to that, the city can take it upon themselves to evict those that are in parks or in areas of the city property, contrary to those bylaws or provincial acts,” said Dobirstein.

He emphasized that the police are in a role to keep the peace and to stand by.

“They do have the authority then to remove someone, laying particular charges. The removal of the encampments is really not the police’s role. We are there to enforce the legislation and assist the city and the other stakeholders in terms of their steps in actually removing an encampment of any particular area,” said Dobirstein. 

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