The Watch ‘very effective’

Council receives updates on the Watch, Community Peace Officer programs

City council was given a progress update on the Watch and Community Peace Officer programs at the Community Issues Committee meeting on Monday. The Watch has been out on the streets since May, and the update presented to council by Watch manager Jeff Hansen encompassed activities volunteer patrollers undertook between April, when training started, until June of this year.

Through its first few months on the streets, Hansen reported, the Watch called in 87 police events, 41 EMS events, four fire events, 129 diversion outreach events, 163 needle pickups to ARCHES and conducted eight safe walks. Team members also fielded 189 public service calls.

Hansen said his teams of volunteers were getting more used to their roles, and he fully expected the next update report would show even greater call-ins and public services rendered. He also reported he had 19 new volunteers to train, and he had only had three original volunteers withdraw from the Watch since its inception in April.

“I think (the Watch program) has been very effective,” Hansen stated. “I keep reiterating this program is all about relationships and getting to understand people, and through that we are able to provide what we were asked to provide: safety and security for Lethbridge.”

Hansen said his volunteer members have come together into a tight-knit team over the last few months.

“What we were intended to do, we have done,” he said. “We can have a full complement out there every day providing the eyes and ears.

“Right out of the gate, in that first month of May, we did call LPS a lot. But as you learn, and as you teach — and they learn from being out there on the street on what needs to be called in (to who). It is a tight group, and I was really surprised at how well the bonds our team leads and the volunteers have meshed together.”

As for the Community Peace Officers, the nine members should be out on the street by midNovember to add a more official uniformed presence to complement the efforts of both the Watch and regular duty officers, said Sgt. Mike Williamson, commander of the community engagement and development unit with the Lethbridge Police Service.

“I am very comfortable and confident with our CPOs because they have been trained to a police standard,” said Williamson. “Depending on the situation, they are all very aware of what they need to do — or not do — and to disengage at that time.”

After the training is completed for the new CPO officers by the Medicine Hat Police Service early in the new year, Williamson said the program is well on its way to getting all 15 CPOs it requires. He confirmed the group will have access to two CPO marked vehicles and the same tactical gear as regular officers in the LPS wear. Their shirts will be gray, however, and they will not carry sidearms— relying instead on their batons and tactical spray in non-lifethreatening situations.

Williamson also confirmed the Alberta Solicitor General’s office is keenly interested in Lethbridge’s unique trial program with its CPOs.

“The enhanced authorities we have been granted has been around in the legislation since 2005, but no community in Alberta has ever attempted to do what we are doing,” stated Williamson. “We are the first coming out of the gate, and the pilot project for the rest of the province.”

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