LPS IS HERE TO STAY
By Lethbridge Herald on July 4, 2025.
Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Mayor Blaine Hyggen and Lethbridge Police Commission chair Noella Piquette both say that no matter what happens provincially with the IAPS, the Lethbridge Police Service will not be replaced.Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald
As the appointment of a new chief for the Independent Agency Police Service marked the next step in giving municipalities a new option for local policing, local officials and the National Police Federation weighed in on the matter Thursday.Â
Mayor Blaine Hyggen says that as public safety in our city is always top priority, he looks forward to learning more about what resources and strategies the Province’s Independent Agency Police Service could potentially provide for the Lethbridge community. But that doesn’t mean things will change locally.Â
“To be clear, this new provincial service is not – and will not – be replacing our Lethbridge Police Service. We are committed to having our own local municipal police. On that note, I want to thank Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh and his staff for their continued excellent work in our community.”
NoĂ«lla Piquette, Lethbridge Police Commission Board Chair and member of the Alberta Association of Police Governance Board, echoed Mayor Hyggen words by stating that the commission wants to retain the Lethbridge police as they have a great working relationship with them and City Hall.Â
“We look forward to continued communication and success and hope that those who are looking at alternate policing services, engage with their current police service, their commission and their community about it,” says Piquette.Â
She also expresses her gratitude towards Chief Mehdizadeh and all members of LPS, as they continue to provide excellent work, which she says was showcased during Canada Day celebrations.Â
“They were very visible, as well as chatting with local community members, and it would be fair to say that the Lethbridge Police Commission, and City Hall have a unified voice and belief that the Lethbridge Police Service is doing an outstanding job,” says Piquette.Â
Kevin Halwa, regional director of the National Police Federation, weighed in from a provincial standpoint on what this could mean for members of the RCMP who are represented by the NPF . He says there are too many unknowns at this point.Â
“There are too many questions that are still unanswered among this whole idea, that it is hard to say what this could mean for our members,” says Halwa.Â
He says the NPF, along with municipalities, has been asking questions about the new Independent Agency Police Service, and no concrete answers have been provided.Â
Halwa explained they have been asking questions about what the IAPS will actually look like or is expected to look like, and so far, the government has been keeping their lips tightly sealed about what the end result is.Â
“The Premier and the Minister stated this was not intended to replace the RCMP, and we are always open to and welcome collaboration when is genuine and in the best interest of public safety,” says Halwa.Â
But he added there has been a lack of clarity and transparency about what’s being proposed and what the service would actually look like, and without a concrete plan it is difficult to understand how this would work alongside existing police services, rather than replace or duplicate them.Â
“And quiet frankly, Albertans deserve answers, not uncertainty,” says Halwa.Â
He says that regardless of not having answers, members of the RCMP continue to “Mountie up” and do their job and police the communities in which they live and serve across the province.Â
“With that being said, there is some frustration as taxpayers in Alberta, as this idea seems to be, for lack of better word, shoved down our throats, without any consultation,” says Halwa.Â
He adds that most Albertans have refused this idea time and time again, but the government continues to move forward with it.Â
“We have all seen the polling, whether it has been done by the government (opposition), or by Pollara Strategic Insights on behalf of the NPF, and the results have been very consistent over the past five years,” says Halwa. “There is very little appetite to move to any sort of provincial police service and the vast majority of Albertans support maintaining the RCMP as the provincial police service and supporting them properly.”Â
20-19
Maybe they need a bit of a shake it! The Lethbridge Police Service has failed and is now merely a social service, disregarding the cries of the affected population and letting criminals roam free in tent cities. If they respond at all, they do nothing!
They have failed their mandate, key responsibities and even the police commission who oversees them is a failure. Some of us who own our business see the failure right before our eyes. They are good at hiding the truth and keeping the public in the dark, and some business owners we spoke with fear complaining, fearing slower response times and loss of what miniscule grants are available for being impacted by the issues caused by lack of enforcement of laws.
· Mandate:
Municipal councils in Alberta are required to provide policing services for their communities. This includes the prevention of crime and disorder, and the protection of life and property. FAILED
· Key Responsibilities:
City police forces are tasked with enforcing laws, investigating crimes, and maintaining public order. They also work with the community to prevent crime and build trust. FAILED
· Community Engagement:
Alberta policing is community-based, with police services working in partnership with residents to address local needs and priorities. THEY ARE GOOD AT GIVING FALSE HOPE AT THEIR PR CAMPAIGNS CALLED INFORMATION SESSIONS.
· Oversight:
Alberta has established oversight bodies to ensure police services are effective and accountable to the public. FAILED
Maybe it is time to defund police!
R.U.S. . . . I know you are frustrated and have lost a lot, but defunding police at a time when we need more law enforcement is a very bad idea!
The LPS boots on the ground are dedicated and just as frustrated, so blame the feds, the province and the administration in City Hall . . . they have failed to get legislation in place to give police better laws to deal with the issues.
I agree that there is more that can be done and not doing so allows the issues to grow, but defunding police is not the way to go! They do need to work smarter with the resources they have and vary patrols. I am not going to get into the encampment strategy issues this time . . . we need funding in place for LPS . . . perhaps some oversight into where those funds are being spent and focus those funds directly on the street crimes issues, which are costing us dramatically more than any other crimes in the city! The rippling effect from the encampments and street issues stretch across this city!
I am angry and maybe defunding is out of the heat of the moment, but when cops are called, sometimes they don’t show up that day and nothing ever happens to the people who threatened us, stole from us, and damaged our property! Frequently, they fail to locate them and if they do, they walk!
Criminals appear to have more rights than the law abiding citizens!
Civil suits appear to be the only way, although complex, if seems to be the only way we will see any change before we turn completely into a slum downtown!
I and others have suffered significant losses!
Businesses seeking to sue a municipality for damages related to inadequate policing would need to file a lawsuit in court, potentially through a tort claim, and demonstrate that the municipality’s negligence caused their losses. I have a right and am tired of being walked all over by criminals! A business may have grounds to sue if the municipality’s negligence in providing policing services directly causes them harm.
Clearly we have been ignored and criminals have free will downtown at night!
RU: I am sure there is a lawyer somewhere in this country who would agree with you and pursue a class action suit against the City for failing the Municipal Govt Act (or what it is called now.). Police are frustrated, as the mantra is, I get the call, I do the leg work, I get the charges, and that is the job. I am to ignore what transpires in court. This is very difficult as there are very few consequences for any crime or uncivil behaviour these days. I can recall, 40 years ago, on searches if police found 2 ounces of pot they had this dilemma. Should I have the suspect flush it or should I go through 6 or 7 months nonsense with the courts, called in on the day off for court and see the culprit get 2 months probation. Is it worth it?? It has now been extrapolated to the most serious of offences. Nuisances etc are now the norm. Having things stolen, the norm, people lying on sidewalks, parks, doorways, the norm, random assaults, the norm, aggressive in your face uncivil behaviour, the norm, beating people to a pulp and instant release, the norm. Not being anywhere other than inside a big box after dark, the norm. All the result of no consequences. The issue is the justice system, the courts and the judges in that order. Judges last, as they are simply put, employees of the province or federal government. The liberalized criminal justice system has been downloaded to the cities and towns, business and residence to deal (pay) for.
It happened because we allowed it to happen!
What happens on our streets is what people allow and just like in Vancouver, it grows. The greater Vancouver DTES is about 20,000 people, with over $400 million annually spent funding over 200 non-profits/housing/support services because they failed to deal with addiction issues from the start with effective treatment programs, instead funding programs which enabled and encouraged addiction, throwing gasoline on the fire!
Lethbridge had a chance this spring to prevent the growth of the encampments, but allowed them to build up to a point they now say we have to accept them. Defeatist attitude that has allowed, when true leadership would have found solutions, but you can’t find a solution when you say ‘every other city has the problem so we will just have to allow them here’, when we have few earlier in the year and the shelter sits as less than 50%, a shelter that is a good shelter, with dedicated people, not what the criminals try to sell you!
Encampments are bases for criminal activity and that is why they won’t stay in shelters, because they cannot conduct their crimes in a shelter. The streets are their area of operations, their theater!
Passive leadership and poor federal leadership allowed it, but the average Johnny Q Public also stood back saying, ‘what can we do, we can’t do anything’ and ignored their rights to bring concerns to government.
But it isn’t the job for citizens to move provincial or federal legislation forward!
We elect officials to stand up for us and make the right decisions and lobby government for changes in legislation to better serve the community, province and country! Leadership should be doing this!
But leadership doesn’t listen to the public much anymore!
At least the UCP listened and shut down the SCS, saving countless lives! Now that they have their policies partially in place, after having to replace the NDP policies similar to BC’s bad harm reduction policies, which sent them down a rabbit hole into wonderland, . . . we now see dramatic changes in fatal overdoses in this province and especially on our city! Lives safed because the UCP had the common sense to try to end the carnage on our streets!
Our leadership in this city have tools, but they are not using them for what ever reason! One should ask why? Because they can do more, but won’t! Who is stopping them?
The city has failed the community and the taxpayer is on the hook because of it! You tax dollars are being burned up because of the failure in leadership!
Yes, calling them “information sessions” is quite a stretch. The feel good PR sessions wrap the cops and the attendees in warm fuzzy feelings just long enough to get everyone out the door.
The Chamber of Commerce is far too silent on this. Let’s guess what they are afraid of? As for, Economic Development Lethbridge , what do they cost directly to the local taxpayer- $250,000 per year? How does this issue affect economic development in the city? Shouldn’t they have an opinion on this? What are they afraid of?
It seems as though the lack of the downtown businesses coming together and uniting in direct and public presentations to city council, hurts the most after the drug issue itself. That a group of people cannot find some measure of consensus on a very common, direct problem and publicly request a measurable action plan from our elected representatives is discouraging.
It is really quite simple. If a Provincial force can be shown to be able to do a better job, better coverage, non staff shortages, etc., than the RCMP in communities, it is a no brainer. Is it about safety or money??? As for the NPF the only unknown is how much the provincial force will pay and what location can I get that best serves myself and my family. There is no social construct to disassemble.
I do agree that many rural communities have not see good policing due to RCMP shortages, or so they say!
Lethbridge has had big money given to its police, but where was it spent?
The biggest issue costing lives, tax dollars and business losses is the crime surrounding the drug addiction problem: homelessness, fatal overdoses, torn apart families, prostitution/sex trafficking, child exploitation, crime, property damage, shoplifting, vehicle break-ins and vehicle theft, some structure fires, assaults, violence, etc., are all tied to the drug problem directly or indirectly increasing organized crime and gangs and encampments are a big factor.
The addiction is the common denominator, but all the criminals are not addicts, some may do drugs but are not addicted. Time and time again we have seen police report the gangs, criminal activities, weapons, stolen goods, dangerous goods like improperly fitted propane tanks, and bio-hazards in and nearby these encampments, yet the city failed to stop it this year when they could have!
The boots on the ground don’t want to constantly have to deal with all the issues surrounding these encampments, but they have to. I would estimate, that at least 60% of police calls are related to the people in these encampments one way or another and they move around the area, day or night committing crimes within a few miles, returning to their encampment after doing so.
A city police force doesn’t need a provincial police force to assist, for city operations, but collaborating on organized crime/gangs using ALERT is important.
We need police to focus on the biggest crime issue, which is drug related, encampment related and the city administration needs to work with them to do so! Instead, more boots on the ground focused on the drugs, crime, prostitutes (because downtown the drug dealers, prostitutes, break and enters and property damage are all connected, not fully but mostly).
There should have been more members dealing with the problems, instead we get an undermanned Downtown Unit which after adding new members, normally has 3 on duty in the day, not at night when most of the criminal activity occurs downtown, where it is the #1 and #2 highest crime hotspots, with a crime suppression unit working with other members on occassional actions. Too much money was blown on toys and in other areas, when the biggest crime issues were ignored the members who have to deal with them run ragged from one incident to another. And the people who are impacted, who call police, getting frustration and angry with law enforcement for not doing their jobs!
This is a leadership problem in both LPS and City Hall! The taxpayer is paying for these bad decisions!
We need better, smarter decisions by our police and clearly their objective was pointed in the wrong direction, due to the ‘it is happening everywhere so we just have to let it happen here’.
Sadly I am one who will be pushing forward in alternative ways for solutions and compensation for losses! Not a choice I want to make, but hey, if Shannon Phillips can sue, why not us, who by the way are suffering from the bad decisions made by her NDP government!
not being a downtown business owner, i do not have first hand knowledge as to what experiences they have had over the years. however, i believe i can accept their take as pretty much accurate. moreover, we know that the lps assigns rather too little of their resources to policing the downtown.
the issues that business owners deal with should be far more shared with the public – in terms of events, frequency, and how crimes are being dealt with. the idea that it is best to not intervene or to do as little as possible, and, to keep it all as hush hush as possible, is deceitful as it is detrimental.
so, is another policing agency going to make any difference, at least in terms of what lethbridge and other municipalities have endured? well, it will not help if there continues to be very little in terms of prevention, response, and earnest judicial/social process. it will not help if the core roots of addictions are not better tended to, such as trauma, and that low functioning and fasd affected people are being left to fend for themselves as adults rather, than under the guidance of adult care that non-adults are expected to have.
most of the downtown criminals are criminals because they have addictions to substances that they cannot afford, and, thus, steal and/or deal in order to use. others sell themselves, and along with that comes the predatory pimp.
the best answer to those issues is to legalise each. ensuring that cost of drugs is low and even free, and that the drugs are consistent and “clean” as we have done with liquor, will save lives and emergency calls/healthcare resources regarding toxicity and overdose; it will also greatly reduce criminality as no one will need to steal to use. the right to exchange sex for money should also be overseen, as is done in some other parts of the world, and is proven to save lives and the spread of disease.
now, we will still have addicts and people making choices that others do not approve of, but that is what a free society means; however, we will also have a safer society than we now have, for all. crime related to paying for drugs, unscrupulous drug dealers, and pimps will no longer be much of an issue. the issue at hand will then be pared down to homelessness, those wanting to stay on the streets, and of course addictions – but the impact to business owners and regular folk will be minimal to none.
now, we come to the court system, already far overburdened and typically without any idea where too many facing the court are to be found. we will have reduced much of the drug related fallout insofar as theft goes, and the violence around pimping and prostitutes without decent protections, which will free up resources so as to deal with the more serious and chronic offenders – the violent offenders including pimps and violent dealers with weapons. these folk should be dealt with severely. chronic offenders in this category are those that undermine the rights of others to safety and reasonable peace.
another police force will be of no use if there is not enough need for one. and, if we have a need for another one, beyond underscoring that alberta is separate, it is because we are not moving away from approaches that do not work. thus, addictions related issues should have a parallel system/approach that is geared toward addressing the root causes. addicts must not be criminals for being addicts – they are criminals only when their behaviour undermines the rights of another, not because their preferences differ from another. forced treatment is not an option in a free society; however, the option of treatment in lieu of or to reduce consequence is fair. for that to work, we will require more treatment availability based on quality research. it may be that a reasonable and limited holding time to help alleviate the mental/physical withdrawal repercussions of the addiction is helpful and necessary. for those with severe issues and who are not functioning at an adult level, they will require ongoing mentorship/oversight, lest we continue on the present merry-go-round where pretty much everyone in society loses.