Questions to City Council and Mayoral Candidates from the Lethbridge Police Association

Dear city council or mayoral candidate,

The Lethbridge Police Association represents the sworn rank and file men and women of the Lethbridge Police Service.  In an effort to better inform our members for the upcoming municipal election we seek your responses to questions of importance to our membership.  The answers may be shared with our members, and we thank you for your considered responses to the following: 

1. In last fall’s budget deliberations, City Council passed a motion to remove $1m from the police service’s budget. This came from the operating portion of the budget (minus wages and benefits). As a newly elected city council member will you be in favor of a second reduction to the police service budget for 2022?
   
   What an unbelievably bad move in a running series of bad moves by this past administration.  Not only would I restore the $1.0 Million cut, I would actually support an increase to the police service budget adding $.5 Million per year over each of the next 4 years. 

2. According to Statistics Canada the police officer to population ratio across the country is 202 for every 100k population. Lethbridge currently sits at 172, or 15% below the national average and our civilian member population is even lower.  Lethbridge is also highest on the crime severity index and ranks 7^th in violent crime.  As a city council member are you in favor of a more balanced approach to personnel allocation and development for the Lethbridge Police Service that would see more personnel available to respond to calls for service, which includes civilian and specialized positions?
   
   

Given our situation it seems we should have at least 200 officers per 100k population.   Of course, total staffing levels are important but also how we deploy those resources is just as critical.  I would be very much in favor of exploring options for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of resources such as civilian and specialized positions.  Perhaps by offloading some of the administrative functions from uniformed officers we could see more feet on the street.   Also, we need to look at the nature of the interaction between police and the public as we all have experienced, or know someone, who has had negative or unsatisfactory police services.  As we all know, it takes 10 good messages to offset 1 bad message.

3. How will you support additional strategies that reinforce the police service’s ability to deal with crime and disorder issues in our city?

In many ways, policing is almost always as “no win” situation as officers rarely (if ever) get called just because everything is going well.  Towards this end, other strategies to take police out of direct line of fire all the time can only help to ameliorate friction and increase the odds of a positive outcome.  No single effort or action can do this alone and so a combination of initiatives may be required.  Her are a few thoughts that may help:

a).  Many folks have really zeroed in on the Indigenous community who, for various reasons, end up being more visible in many situations.   Perhaps a combination of language instruction, along with cultural awareness training that likely already takes place, can help to build relations, and reduce conflicts.

b). If not already being undertaken, efforts to recruit and train more Indigenous officers may be pursued.

c).  Adding more Peace Officers to the ranks to deal with some of the low-level activities to increase enforcement presence in a wider spectrum of available responses.  This may help to reduce the workload on fully trained and equipped officers while enabling further training and development of new recruits.

e).  Expanding community watch programs so that addition eyes and ears are available to report goings-on. 

f). Extensive deployment of remote monitoring technology in problem areas.

g).  Addition of specialists trained in the areas of mental health and addictions so that minor situations are contained and controlled before the escalate.

h). Partner with private security companies to deploy tracking technology in the effort to control petty crime, theft, and trade in stolen goods.

i).  Creating teams who have the specialized knowledge to root out property theft, drug trafficking, prostitution and other elements that contribute to the over all feelings of lawlessness, frustration, and despair over the perceived decline in social well-being.  

4. How do you intend to show your support for our public safety providers as a city council member?

The first step in addressing any concern is to listen.  I commit to making myself available, to listen, consider, and as required to act on any concerns that public safety providers feel need to be addresses.    I would also support improved public relations efforts to connect with the public through town halls, information sessions, events and programs designed to lower the barriers between services such as yourself and the public.