2017 a year to rebuild for LPS
More changes planned for 2018, says police chief
The year 2017 has been all about rebuilding for the Lethbridge Police Service. “It’s like rebuilding a sports team for the future,” said LPS Chief Rob Davis. “You have the team that’s been successful but now you have to rebuild for the next big win.”
And to have a successful team, you need the right people in the right roles with the right training. And a new arena could be helpful, too. This will help move the organization forward as a number of changes are set to occur in 2018.
It’s about rebuilding the organization for the future “because the reality is the city is growing and we need to continue to evolve and be innovative to meet the needs of a city that is growing,” said Davis.
But all of this may not have been possible without the restoration of a shortfall in the police force’s operating budget at the start of the year.
In November 2014, former LPS Chief Tom McKenzie presented the 2015-18 budget to council sitting as Finance Committee. At that time, council resolved that the base budget increase be reduced by $791,863 by 2018. But there was a provision it could be brought forward after a new police chief was hired.
In January, Davis told council that without the funding, the police service would face an $830,000 annual deficit by 2018. He attributed the shortfall to increasing overtime costs associated with investigating major crimes, a lower-thananticipated rate of retirements, legal fees and the loss of provincial Police Officer Grant funding.
Council approved the allocation of $700,000 in 2017 and $830,000 in 2018.
“It actually set our budget where it should have been in the first place,” said Davis. “That was huge because it was going to impact our ability to hire new officers.”
At that point there were nine vacancies. Davis said he was faced with the decision of leaving those empty, thereby affecting the police force “street strength,” if the funding wasn’t restored.
“With the budget being restored we could confidently hire the recruits we did.”
Those recruits went through a new 19-week cadet training model developed through a collaboration between the Lethbridge Police, Medicine Hat Police, Taber Police, Blood Tribe Police, CP Rail and Lethbridge College.
“That was a highlight of the year. It was a lot of work,” said Davis. “We basically re-created or started from zero on a new training model. Everybody in the organization was impacted by it.”
The college provides academic experts and curriculum designers and the police bring the subject matter experts, but may also draw on other resources such as a Crown attorney to draw up the law course.
“It’s competency-based learning and authentic assessment rather than a written exam with a numerical grade,” said Davis. “So it’s really cuttingedge in the province of Alberta and this was our first cadet class to go through under that model.”
The program provides more scenario-based learning and is customer service focused, to create a “more street-ready officer,” said Davis. It was approved by the Ministry of Advanced Education so the college can give academic credentials, and is also verbally approved by the Solicitor General’s Ministry.
Lethbridge’s class was the first to go through the new program. Out of the 10 cadets that graduated in June, three went to CP Rail police and seven to Lethbridge Police Service. The Medicine Hat Police will have a class in 2018.
“So this is exciting for us ... long term we want to be able to train the cadets for Blood Tribe Police as well, given our relationship,” said Davis. “We work closely with them; we’re neighbours.”
And on June 7, a new Deputy Chief of Police was named. After 21 years of exemplary service, Scott Woods was appointed as the chief’s new right-hand man, a position that had been vacant since Colin Catonio’s retirement in May 2016.
“Having the right people in the right roles, like the deputy, help move things forward,” said Davis. “It’s been an outstanding six months working with him... very progressive thinking.”
All of this will prepare the force for changes to come in 2018, such as “own your zone.” Officers will be assigned to one of four beats in the north, south, west or downtown. They will be expected to work within their zone for a minimum of two years, getting to know the people who live and work in those areas. The goal is to allow officers to build relationships, increase public engagement and work with neighbourhood associations to add another layer of “eyes and ears” on the ground.
Throughout 2017, there has been a defined focus on collaboration and partnerships with other police force units, including ALERT and SCAN.
One major initiative was Project Street Sweeper, a twomonth joint forces operation that targeted chronic property crime offenders in and around Lethbridge. The Property Crimes Unit, led by Sgt. Mark Smallbones, partnered with ALERT and recovered more than $400,000 worth of stolen goods, made 45 arrests and laid 230 criminal charges.
The LPS also partnered with ALERT to make several significant drug busts over the past year, including what police say was the city’s largest drug seizure ever in February. More than $1.2 million in drugs, firearms and proceeds of crime were seized from four homes on Feb. 11 and three people were charged.
“The issues we’re seeing with crime, they don’t recognize boundaries. So it makes sense for us to work with other agencies to have a more focused approach,” said Davis. “Really that’s where policing across the country has been going for awhile. We need to collaborate more, make sure we’re sharing information and working together.”
They continue to build relationships with other agencies — for example with CP Rail police (there is an officer embedded in the police service) and with the Blood Tribe Police Service. The BTPS requested Lethbridge officers come out to assist them during the 2017 Kainai powwow, and Blood Tribe officers came to Lethbridge to assist during Whoop-Up Days.
“It was a great experience for both police services,” said Davis. “A lot of our officers that went out for powwow had never been to Standoff ... so it was great for them to take part in that and it was well received by the community.”
Davis continues to communicate regularly with BTPS Chief Kyle Melting Tallow, whom he recently travelled with to Lake of the Ozarks to make a final pitch to host the 2022 CanAm Police-Fire Games. The other members of the bid committee included Lethbridge Fire/EMS Chief Rich Hildebrand, Lethbridge Sport Council’s Susan Eymann and the Enmax Centre’s Kim Gallucci.
It was a bit of a blow to learn that Lethbridge was not selected. The city was one of three shortlisted for the opportunity, which was eventually awarded to Windsor, Ont. But all was not lost, according to Davis.
It allowed the bid committee the chance to work together and in turn, strengthened relations even more between police and fire/EMS in both Lethbridge and the Blood Tribe.
“Even though we didn’t get the Games it’s not a complete loss because I think we got a complete new understanding of how close our agencies in police, fire and ambulance all work together in the two communities.”
The public was invited to celebrate the grand opening of the new and improved police headquarters in early December. It was a long time coming, as the $27.9-million renovation and expansion began in the spring of 2014.
Davis said it meant a lot to be able to show off the new digs to the public as well as veterans of the force, who told stories of how policing was “back in the day.”
Another major highlight of the year was securing a supervised drug consumption site for Lethbridge, he said. It was through hard work by many agencies which resulted in achieving funding and a federal exemption to be the first in North America to offer all four modes of consumption — to snort, inhale, inject or swallow drugs while under the supervision of health-care professionals and without fear of arrest.
Renovations are underway at the old Pulse nightclub site downtown. The facility should be up and running by February 2018.
Davis sees it as a positive direction to combat the growing opioid overdose crisis, as users will have access to health professionals who can help them find a better path.
“We’re never going to be able to arrest our way out of it,” he said.
There’s also been a “real spike in pursuits and fail to stop,” said Davis. “These things will make their way through the courts, but we hope the courts realize these are a real public-safety issue. And again, they’re tied to the opioid crisis so you have somebody that’s potentially impacted by a drug and now they’re driving like a maniac. It’s not a safe situation for the public.”
Davis said they aren’t exactly sure why there’s been a spike, but the force is working on strategies to try to mitigate it.
Another impending challenge is the federal government’s move to legalize cannabis in July 2018.
The Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police has made a formal request to consider the implications of rolling out the legislation without proper regulations and clarity, especially when it comes to impaired driving.
“If the government adamantly wants legalization July 1, we just need time to make sure the safeguards are in place so we can ensure public safety,” said Davis. “What we’re asking is if there’s any way to slow the process down. We’re not opposing it, it’s just there are a number of things that have been downloaded to provincial and municipal governments to address. We just need time.”
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