Crime increased in Lethbridge in 2023, according to police statistics

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Crime in Lethbridge increased last year, according to crime statistics, but the city’s police chief noted Thursday that follows three years of declining crime.

Crime violations in Lethbridge increased by 6.7 per cent in 2023, according to a report prepared for the city’s police commission meeting on Wednesday. But crime had decreased in the previous three years, by 6.5 per cent in 2020, 3.9 per cent in 2021 and 5.3 per cent in 2022.

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“We saw a good trend for three years in a row, but that’s not necessarily going to be sustainable all the time,” said Lethbridge police Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh during a Thursday interview.

He added there’s no reason for Lethbridge residents to “panic” over the 2023 crime numbers.

Numerous factors affect crime rates, including the drug and homelessness issues that Lethbridge faces, said Mehdizadeh.

“When there’s drug issues, it’s naturally going to increase the crime, especially when it comes to person crime and property crime, because (drug users) need to steal to support their habit,” said Lethbridge’s police chief.

Last year, reports of trafficking in Lethbridge rose by 46.9 per cent last year, to 232, and reports of possession by almost 72.6 per cent, to 837, according to the Lethbridge Police Service’s 2023 annual report, which was also presented to the Lethbridge police commission Wednesday.

“The community wants to do these, and we actively put projects to take these drugs off the street, but any time you do that it’s a crime type that adds to our crime stats,” said Mehdizadeh.

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Domestic violence, sexual assault violations increased

Numerous types of crimes against people were up in Lethbridge last year.

Domestic violence violations increased by 27 per cent, to 2,225 incidents, with Lethbridge police especially having seen an increase in domestic violence since COVID, Mehdizadeh said.

Sexual assault violations were up last year by almost 20 per cent, to 159.

“Any sexual assault is too many, but the fact that people are feeling more comfortable to come report them, that’s actually a good thing, because at least we have a better understanding of how some of our women are victimized and are more comfortable to come forward and report it,” said Lethbridge’s police chief.

Assaults increased by about 15 per cent, to 1,633 incidents, with Mehdizadeh noting most assaults are not random incidents.

“A significant majority of the assaults are within known parties,” he said.

Majority of property crimes ‘opportunity crimes’: Lethbridge police

There was one homicide in Lethbridge last year, down from two in 2022, and no attempted murders in 2023.

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Many types of property crimes, including arsons and mischief incidents, also increased last year, while shoplifting, vehicle thefts and possession of stolen property decreased.

“The majority of the property crimes, we’re still seeing many opportunity crimes,” such as people leaving their vehicles, residences, garages or sheds unlocked, said Mehdizadeh, adding Lethbridge police continue to educate residents on how to reduce being victimized by these types of crimes.

The annual Crime Severity Index has indicated break-and-enters and frauds in Lethbridge continue to be problems, Mehdizadeh noted. Break-and-enters increased by 8.9 last year, to 1,051 violations, and frauds by over 60 per cent, to 1,592 violations.

Fraud is among the types of crimes significantly affected by a change in how Lethbridge police have reported crime statistics in its annual report, to be consistent with how crime data is reported to the province. Crime totals in the annual report were calculated at the violation level, instead of the occurrence or incident level. Each occurrence can have one to many incidents, and each incident can have up to four violations, the report explained.

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“Crimes like fraud, the best way to tackle them is through education so people don’t provide money or get conned by (scammers) — most of them don’t even live in this country,” said Mehdizadeh.

Plans to add more police visibility to downtown Lethbridge

But many types of crimes get solved by Lethbridge police, he said.

“Our solve rates are very decent,” said Mehdizadeh.

To begin addressing capacity and staffing challenges, the LPS hired 11 additional police officers last year, as well as 13 civilian employees. From 2024-26, Lethbridge police plan to graduate two cadet classes per year to increase officer numbers.

“As we’re hiring more, as more resources are getting to the front line, we’re going to release more of our senior officers to the downtown unit,” said Mehdizadeh, adding Lethbridge police plan to add more police visibility in the downtown.

Lethbridge’s downtown has been identified as a hotspot for crime in the city. In the downtown, crime violations increased by 10.8 per cent in 2023. In December, mischief, theft under $5,000, assault, break-and-enters, and shoplifting under $5,000 were the top five violations in the downtown.

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