City crime rate drops yet again
By Lethbridge Herald on February 27, 2025.
Lethbridge Police Service members respond to a high risk incident Thursday afternoon at the 700 block of 27 street North. Police left the scene a short while later and no other information was made available.
Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-GuzmanAlejandra Pulido-Guzman – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – apulido@lethbridgeherald.com
Crime is down 16 per cent across the city and 18 per cent in the city’s Crime Severity Index (CSI), the Lethbridge Police Service announced Thursday. It’s the lowest numbers since 2019.
Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh told reporters he’s proud of the results, which are due not only to policing but also to regular citizens helping reduce crimes of opportunity.
“It is amazing news for the city,” said Mehdizadeh. “As you all remember, we were No. 1 (in Canada) in the CSI list and had a bad reputation when it came to crime.”
The chief credited hard work by his department over the past few years to identify causation of crime and where the resources need to be deployed to best tackle it. The resulting decline, especially last year, is significant for the city and it is good news for all residents.
“It is not any one or two things that can be attributed to it,” said Mehdizadeh. “Crime is crime and sometimes it goes up and down, but on trend that we keep looking at is the trend over many years.” He explained that a single year of crime reduction can be an anomaly, but consistent year-over-year numbers indicate a trend.
“There are certainly a few things that can be attributed to this, with the number one being that we are more focused with the resources we have to deploy them when and where they are needed and targeting the more prolific offenders in the city.”
The chief praised the work by LPS’s analytical unit to provide the police with meaningful data to use when tackling crime.
“But what the analytics department does to provide information to us is only as good as what the officers do with that information,” he pointed out, “and I think that is the next significant thing that has been happening in this department.”
Cracking down and checking regularly on “prolific offenders” – those who frequently and repeatedly commit crimes – has yielded significant rewards as well, said Mehdizadeh.
“Every month those names may change, but these are the most prolific people that have conditions because of charges. And we have officers often go to do checks on them to make sure they are abiding by those conditions like curfew, no-go zones, contacts or anything else. And if they are in violation of any of their conditions, we hold them accountable.”
He said that on its own has translated into a significant reduction of crime. The more checks they do, the fewer crimes happen. On the other hand, when officers don’t have time to do those checks, they see crime go up as a result and therefore the CSI increases as well.
“We have an evidence-based approach in doing police work which has made the difference and has gotten the buy-in from front line officers who are actually doing the work everyday,” said Mehdizadeh.
As well, the number of crimes of opportunity in the city have dropped, due in large part to residents being more vigilant when it comes to their own property. Something as simple as remembering to lock your vehicle can have an impact.
“I feel our citizens have also had a significant contribution to driving crime in our city down, as it is not just our job but it’s everyone’s job,” said Mehdizadeh.
Analysis has been the key, said the chief. Knowing what works and what doesn’t helps drive the success of any police service, said the chief.
“Policing is all about being adaptable and agile to what is going on out there, so we continue doing that. But any new initiative that shows success is a reason to celebrate, but if we are not seeing success there is nothing lost, we tried it and then we can go try something different.”
He praised every member of the LPS, from the most senior leadership to the most junior person, for playing a role in reducing the numbers. He said a perception of safety has been on the rise as the crime rate has dropped, which was reflected in the 2024 LPS Community Survey, which shows 70 per cent of residents surveyed said they feel safer in their communities. That number was up from 65 per cent in 2023.
“If we drop crime and the perception of safety doesn’t improve, it’s not a good thing,” said Mehdizadeh. “And the fact that we saw an improvement from 65 to 70 per cent, is significant.”
He also believes the perception of safety has improved because more residents are going and enjoying what the city has to offer.
“Unfortunately…we are never going to have a crime-free city, but the more people actually get out there and enjoy the city, it’s certainly going to help in pushing the negative elements out.”
22-21
While this appears to be good news, one must wonder first, what is the clearance rate by charges and second, has the police service been relegated to baby sitters due to the ineffectiveness of the justice system and has the service just become another “social services” agency amongst the many?
As a downtown business owner who saw first hand the problems downtown last year, I am not in agreement with this report and neither are some of my fellow business neighbours.
We applaud the efforts of the police and thank them, but stats are misleading!
The supervised drug consumption site opened in 2017 and within 2 years the police reported to city council that crime in the area went up almost 6,000 %. That is correct, almost six thousand percent. So when you say there has been a downward trend since 2019, one would hope so, since crime went down after shutting it down!
Those recent stats were from last year, and why is it then, if there was so much less crime, why did it take so long for police to respond when we called last year? Why did it take hours, of the next day? Or as one of my friends experienced, did we have to fill our the online form because police were too busy to respond? Why did so many assaults happen against business employees and customers or their vehicles get damage by thieves who stole items from them?
It things were so great, where were police downtown where the 1st and 2nd highest crime rates in the city were?
Why did angry business owners fill the Police Commission chambers all demanding more police action downtown?
Many police have worked very hard for change and we appreciate it, but many of them state they are bound by leadership, who ‘do not want to be too heavy handed’ as one stated in the news, and that without deterrents there will be little change. That is what the police on the street who have been working the streets for years have stated: there needs to be deterrents and they need to be able to actually enforce the law.
We live with the issues and see the issues when we arrive at work and have to move people away from our business and see the garbage on our security cameras overnight and as we look out the window during the day.
We do not need to be misled by statistics! We saw all of the issues last year and this year will not be any better if you do not start enforcing the law downtown and actually protect our property and the downtown.
Many still refuse to come downtown and Galt Gardens has turned into a drug consumption site and criminal hangout, where citizens are often intimidated by those criminals when they walk in the park, sometimes verbally abused, just for walking through the park.
We want to see that change on the streets, not by calling out misleading stats and saying all is well!
Last fall after all the business owners unloaded on police at the Police Commission meeting, several police actions took police and actually made a difference for a change. That is what works!
After meeting last night with other business owners, we are expecting another year of issues, more issues than last year! Prove us wrong!!
Those stats are down also because they come from the number of calls to police to report crimes, and many gave up because it took so long for police to arrive, that it was too late to catch the criminals or they would not fill out the online report. So many crimes were not reported and those statistics would have been higher!
I will ask this once again, if crime was down, what were all the police doing when we called and had to wait sometimes until the next day?
We may very well end up back in the Police Commission meeting in a couple of months and this time we will demand a leadership change! This is our livelihood and many businesses did not survive the impacts of the drug site, but then many others didn’t survive COVID because they hadn’t recovered from that site! We experience the issues everyday and we want police action, not statistics!
“but the more people actually get out there and enjoy the city, it’s certainly going to help in pushing the negative elements out.”
So you want the people to push the negative elements out? Why do we pay police?
I applaud LPS for all the hard work the boots on the ground have had to do, but with a budget of over $54 million per year, why is it up to the taxpayer to push those elements out . . . and where are we pushing them to?
I agree with one of the other commentors, that I do not appreciate the statisitics ‘snowjob’, when in my case living/working downtown and I see the truth. I would like to know where that 70% of citizens polled say they felt safe in Lethbridge now . . . are they from Paradise Canyon or Sunset Acres and are the some of those who will not come downtown anymore?
And, I would hope that crime statistics would go down after the massive influx of crime arose when the SCS opened.
But I learned first hand last year from calls for police to respond to issues near my building, that there were some serious police scheduling issues and downtown got the short end of the draw, with Sgt Darroch stating last fall he only had 2 members on the Downtown policing unit. How does that make sense? The shelter, which is downtown, and the Petro Canada downtown had the two highest crime rates in the city, yet the members assigned were some of the fewest in relation to other districts.
I remember calling LPS one night after a person was using a metal cane, banging on windows, walls and doors of businesses on the Petro Canada block and his buddy was swinging around a rock or other heavy object in a sock, which can serious injure someone or cause property damage. The person continued for over 2 hours, that I observed, then moved from the 6th street to the SAM treatment center where he was throwing things around by the rear entrance, pushed the intercom button and told them to F off and then was last seen going towards the Library. I was not going out there to see if they had done $10,000 in damage yet . . . I am not the police!
The LPS call center told me to go online and fill out the online form, because there hadn’t been $10,000 of damage to the businesses yet. So where were all the police at 11pm at night? You want the public to flood downtown to push those elements out? Maybe we should start our own Citizens on Patrol since the Watch has now went from moving people along, to handing out water and checking on people, but leaving them loiter all day around businesses. Is that not what the non-profits do? So why are we paying for the Watch to do nothing. Orignally, the did good work and moved people along, but now they appear to be the Public Relations arm for LPS.
I am sorry but I know you have some very dedicated members on the streets wanting to do their jobs and reduce the issues, but your policies are hindering that work! It is not the public’s responsibility to go after the criminals, to stop the open drug use and intimidation in Galt Gardens and other parts of downtown.
This is a law enforcement issue and if you are putting it on the public to do so, are we now deputies? It is time police enforced the law and the onus is not put on the public.
Almost every one of the people on the streets have weapons on them, ranging from sticks to knifes, and in some cases guns!
Is the public aware of this? If the public was aware of all of crime that happens overnight in this city, they would not be saying they feel safe in this city and much of that crime news has been suppressed, for what I have been told is because it has a negatvie impact for downtown business. Don’t say anything and people will not know, and will come down, and not taking safety measures to protect their vehicles and articles inside, because of the ‘Don’t Tell’ practise.
If the public knew what happens downtown at night . . .!
9 months ago, July 25, 2024 here were the headlines regarding our rating on the Crime Severity Index:
“Lethbridge sees Crime Severity Index score spike by nearly seven per cent”https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/lethbridge-sees-crime-severity-index-score-spike-by-nearly-seven-per-cent/
“Statistics Canada has released its crime severity index scores for 2023 and for the first time in three years, Lethbridge saw its score go up.Lethbridge’s score for 2023 is 129.1, which is an increase of nearly seven per cent from 2022.”
Lethbridge is now tied with Winnipeg for the fourth-highest score in the country.
I say again: Stats to not show the whole picture and cannot be used as a barometer.
Many have given up reporting crimes downtown because of the long wait times in 2024 or being told to go online and fill out a long, non user-friendly form that is hard for someone who is not used to filling out that type of form, so they do not bother. Another reason, as we have seen by many businesses, even with pictures of the shoplifter provided to police once they did finally get to the scene hours later or the next day, police rarely charged the shoplifter, because there were more important crimes and too much time passed. One of those business owners chose to post the pictures of those thieves on the front entrance way of their business after none were charged.
There are many reasons why people do not bother calling police anymore downtown. Trust must now be regained and when an article like this is released, which portrays a much different picture than the reality of what we see downtown, and will soon see as it warms up, it doesn’t help to rebuild that trust!
One business owner has even been called a liar, when he spoke to a responding member, when he said he saw a gun!
The LPS boots on the ground are working very hard to bring change, but there are some leadership issues, and this article says it all!
Good question,pursuit driver, about where to push them out to. We are hardly allowed, never mind get an answer to questions like that.Word on the street is the authorities are encouraging,perhaps even facilitating, the removal of some high acuity/medium acuity (druggies) clients to go to Calgary. Apparently it is because of the renovations at the shelter. But after the renovations, that will accommodate up to around 230-250 beds, these people(and many more) will all be welcome back? So if the police want to push the negative elements out, why are we providing yet more accommodation ,that will enable or welcome them back? I realize some of the actors involved,those who make a living off these endeavors ( some so called nonprofits, perhaps Sophie R.,Lethbridge housing) may take exception to Mehdizadeh’s choice of words.
If I and or a number of people went to a development for social housing meeting that was for high acuity clients(even if you could get the actors involved to come out honestly and say that,and we used the words”pushing the negative elements out”, we would be labelled racists. Lethbridge housing and the like, would have a fit that we were raining on their parade. Yes some Lethbridge housing staff live downtown. Perhaps their paychecks have something to do with their strong support and defense of the situation? But if they don’t comment or question Mehdizadeh’s comments- it is very telling who their masters are.
As far as this so called survey goes,did the LPS email their supporters and friends the survey to do? This hugely influences the results. The city’s community planning department does that for their surveys and even open houses- to get their supporters out. Out with the answers they want to see. Example: Let’s personally invite many say Riverstone residents(where many community planners etc happen to live) as we know they will say yes let’s dump more of this stuff on 3rd avenue north by the shelter. Never mind the home owners in that area,they have no wealth or power,so their opinion doesn’t count anyway.
I trust zero surveys of the police and especially surveys from city hall. Is the community planning department/Lethbridge housing above fudging results?
All the city has accomplished on this issue in the last 30-40 years is to kick the shelter out of downtown(where it was 25-30 years ago). So they have just moved the pile or in their words”negative elements” from one location to another. Zero accomplished other than that. Plus the pile is far,far bigger. The amount of money and parading around on this issue and all that has been accomplished is a bigger pile.
As a person, I think that Mehdizadeh is a nice guy. But it is insulting to use some of the comments, he has. Again, especially to those who have been paying personally and monetarily for this shell game. That is all it is ,is a shell game-look not here
time for matt marshal dillon! along with festus and a good posse, we could get these fashion faux pas scoundrels off our streets and run right out of town. let ’em be the problem for tombstone or some other county. christians unite!
The crime severity index is based on reported violations (from traffic tickets to murder) and weighted for severity based on the court decision.
In theory, a city of speeders and loiterers may have a higher index rating than one with more serious crime. In effect, more police (giving tickets) will raise the crime severity index. A lower index could mean lower crime, fewer reported crimes making it to court, fewer charges …
So, we’re talking perception. I also live, work and recreate downtown, and I’ve seen little change for 8 years. I’m more alarmed by drivers running stop lines into crosswalks than guys swinging their socks around.
Measurement:
The Crime Severity Index measures changes in the level of severity of crime in Canada from year to year. It is complementary to the crime rate which measures only the volume of crime reported to the police per 100,000 population.
The Index includes all Criminal Code violations including traffic, as well as drug violations and all Federal Statutes.
In the Index, all crimes are assigned a weight based on their seriousness. The level of seriousness is based on actual sentences handed down by the courts in all provinces and territories. More serious crimes are assigned higher weights, and less serious offences lower weights. As a result, more serious offences have a greater impact on changes in the Index. These weights are updated using data from the Integrated Criminal Courts Survey (ICCS) every 5 years.
far too thoughtful and enlightened an entry, sophie. if we measure crime severity by the per capita of folk whose pants hang too low, we are not doing well at all. we need to enforce belts and suspenders and pants with waistbands that meet meet a legal standard of keeping our streets free of crack. perhaps if we begin by rounding up the culprits and sending them to an enforced two year haute cuture program.