City police conclude six-week crackdown
By Lethbridge Herald on June 7, 2025.
Joe Manio
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Inititiative
The Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) has concluded a six-week, city-wide enforcement project targeting street-level drug traffickers that has resulted in the seizure of thousands of doses of drugs, more than 150 criminal charges and two dozen arrests.
“This operation is a direct response to the concerning rise in street-level drug trafficking and related criminal activity that impacts the safety and well-being of our community,” said Inspector Jason Walper, who oversees the Criminal Investigation Division. “By targeting both street and mid-level dealers, the goal is to disrupt the drug trade, reduce social disorder, and increase public safety.”
Beginning in April and concluding at the end of May, the operation involved a series of short-term investigations and included resources from the Alberta Sheriff’s Safer Communities And Neighbourhoods unit and ALERT’s Combined Forces Special Enforcement Section, working collaboratively to support the LPS Crime Suppression Team, PropertyCrimes Unit, Operational Intelligence Unit and Crime and Strategic Analytics Section.
“The successful outcome of this project–evidenced by numerous arrests, charges and substantial drug and cash seizures–reflects the dedication and collaborative efforts of our officers and partner agencies. We remain committed to strategically targeting offenders and high-crime areas to ensure Lethbridge is a safe place for everyone,” said Walper.
With a significant increase in public drug use, trafficking and related criminal activities, such as break-ins and vehicle thefts, police worked to target street and mid-level dealers in an effort to disrupt the distribution of drugs and reduce crime and social disorder.
A total of 26 people were arrested, 156 Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act charges were laid, nearly 12,000 street doses of fentanyl and methamphetamine were seized along with smaller quantities of narcotic pills, psilocybin and MDMA. In addition, police
seized one firearm, seven vehicles and nearly $17,000 cash proceeds of crime. Twenty-five arrest warrants and two search warrants were also executed.
A similar operation was conducted in the fall of 2024, resulting in the seizure of more than $95,000 in drugs, over $22,000 in cash, six firearms, more than two dozen other weapons and numerous Criminal Code and CDSA charges.
More projects are planned for 2025, in tandem with another ongoing operation specifically targeting high frequency offenders and areas with high volumes of crime in downtown Lethbridge.[Quote from a Merchant]
Police ask the public to continue reporting all suspicious and criminal activity by calling 403-328-4444. LPS uses CompStat, a data-driven model using analytics to identify high-crime areas, prolific offenders and the most effective deployment of police resources.
Knowing what is occurring, where it is happening and how often, helps give police an accurate picture of crime and disorder in the community, and enables more effective deployment of resources and enforcement strategies.
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I wonder how many of those arrests were repeat offenders or those released by our court system under their catch and release policies. We’ve got to put serious criminals and repeat offenders behind bars. It won’t deter all from returning to their life of crime but may make some rethink their lifestyle. There has to be more severe consequences for their actions rather than a slap on the wrist.
You are correct and I agree! What is needed is change by the federal government through legislation, but there is more we can be doing with existing laws. They just are not using those laws! There is more the province can do and more we can do in our city as well! They just don’t want to!
I appreciate the efforts of our police and look forward to another crackdown soon! We have a growing issue around the shelter which impacts the whole city, but visibly downtown area within 4 blocks of the shelter, including Galt Gardens or should I say Consumption Gardens.
Open drug use is still visible in most of downtown and the area around the shelter is now looking more like Vancouver Downtown Eastside after what appears to be the end of the encampment strategy.
Very little is being done as almost 100 people are now camped out around what used to be the El Dorado RV complex and it has spread across 9th street north to the area by the small mall and along buildings in that area.
They move them along, and those just moved only go a block away, wait then in few hours they return and set up again. They make a joke of the system, and know they can get away with it, so all those resources the taxpayer pays for continues to be burned up, wastefully because there are no deterents, no actions, no consequences! It is useless!
A friend who fought for the strategy at a cost, is very unhappy with the lack of will, as he states, for the city to properly deal with the matter.
These encampments are not people who are now unhoused because they fell on hard times! They are criminals who take advantage of the system, disrespect laws, will not comply to the rules for staying in the shelter and use these encampments as a base to commit crimes. They deal in drugs, sex, stolen goods, shoplift, break and enter, and most have weapons, stolen goods and drugs in their possession.
They are the primary people who commit many of the crimes in our area because they refuse to obey laws and are why our police and first responders are often run ragged responding to calls from these people. They are the ones who I see in my CCTV around my building when I arrive, doing drugs, using my property as a toilet, sometimes even committing sexual acts right in front of my camera and the ones defacing property.
These are the people who attract your teenage kids who are curious, adventurous, and refuse to listen to parents warnings and often those teenagers end up on our streets themselves after they were groomed and given drugs. I have seen too many teenagers in our back alley, not understanding the dangers of streetlife or drug use!
I know we only have so many resources, but we need more of these crackdown operations and we need to shutdown all encampments in our city!
Many of those in these encampments of come to Lethbridge recently when the weather warmed, as they always have done in the last few years.
Our new taxpayer paid shelter has plenty of room for these people! There are no excuses! If you came to our city to commit crime and not respect our city, our businesses, our people then there are other cities where you can go to commit your crimes.
The taxpayer has rights as well and these encampments must end and if the person in charge doesn’t want to do their job, replace them! We are burning up valuable funds because someone is not willing to do their job!
Take a drive around the shelter and the area around the Service Canada mall. See how your tax dollars are been spent!
Yesterday a friend took me around the area once I closed, and showed me the mess, along with pictures he had taken throughout the day where people were moved, and just waited nearby until suppertime, then started setting up again. The gangs pulled the same thing off around the Calgary shelter until police there cleared them out. Now they think they can do the same here!
I noticed a significant change in my ‘hood’ from this and I thank you . . . I know you can’t be everywhere, but appreciate it!
The issues were growing around our home before you acted! As my friend above stated, I am very concened as well with the large encampment issues.
If they were someone who for some unforeseen reason found themselves homeless I may have compassion, but many of these people arrived here from other communities, with no intention of finding work, but to commit crimes and see our city as one of opportunity to do so. They refuse to stay in the shelter because they cannot conduct their criminal business there. The streets are their ‘area of operations’ or for those who don’t understand that term, their storefront. They are criminals who live their lives doing drugs and committing the crimes that cost all of us and should be dealt with as such!
For those who come here for that purpose, they should be made to feel very uncomfortable committing crimes here by being arrested and charged until they decide they should find another community to destroy, instead of ours!
I know our police want to do more, sometimes letting it bring them down because they cannot do more, and we need to thank them for all the hard work with limited resources they do for us!
Many have the will, but they are bound by federal policies and I do not see any change coming under the Carney government, which is not much different than the Trudeau government . . . all the same players with a different leader, a leader who is still a Chretien plant and is the Chretien-Trudeau 3.0 version now!