Crime statistics for drug crisis rise, police say

By Lethbridge Herald on November 6, 2018.

Lethbridge police sergeant Bruce Hagel told reporters Tuesday after Maclean's recently released a report ranking Lethbridge on the list of the 20 most dangerous places in Canada, according to crime statistics. Photo of Herald by Ian Martens @IMartensHerald

Tim Kalinowski
Lethbridge Herald
[email protected]
The Lethbridge Police Service urges residents to keep in perspective the recently released Maclean's report – ranking Lethbridge among the 19 most dangerous places to stay in Canada on the basis of crime rates – among the most dangerous in the world.
Although the report reports a 53% increase in crime in Lethbridge since the last Maclean's report in 2012, Sergeant LPS Sgt. Bruce Hagel said most of the increase is due to the drug crisis.
"Lethbridge, like many communities on this list – and think that there are six or seven communities in Alberta on this list – it's a series of unprecedented events in recent years with this opioid crisis, "Hagel told reporters on Tuesday. "Along with this increase in drug use, you see an increase in property crime, break and enter, break and enter, and break and enter in garages, to fuel these drug use patterns. "
According to the Maclean & # 39; s study, Lethbridge is below the national average for homicides and is not much higher than or equal to the national average in most other crime categories measured at the same time. exception of badault (782.34 cases per 100,000 population). almost double the Canadian average at 430.68) and break-ins (801.42 incidents per 100,000 population, again almost double the Canadian average of 438.51).
Hagel said most of the break-ins can be attributed to the drug crisis. Aggression figures are a little harder to explain, but tend to occur within a group of individuals in the city.
"Most of the violent crimes we see here in Lethbridge are within the marginal community, with addictions and things like that," Hagel said. "Random violent attacks, although they happen, are quite rare in Lethbridge."
Lethbridge is also above the country average for fraud incidents (974.22 incidents per 100,000, which is three times the country's average of 299.05).
Hagel admitted that the LPS did not quite understand why the numbers of frauds were so high in Lethbridge, but that these three statistical domains tended to skew Lethbridge's rankings in the Maclean's study and did not reflect the experiences of most residents of the city. life.
"I think Lethbridge is a great place to live," said Hagel. "I think Lethbridge is a great place to raise a family."
But that does not mean that the SPL turns a blind eye to the problems we have in the community, Hagel said.
"We have recognized the need to be more active in some of these areas, by putting more shoes on the street," Hagel said, "and even involving the community in neighborhood-type surveillance programs. community peace, etc. we will have more visibility. And I hope this (more) big show will reduce these numbers. "
Follow @ TimKalHerald on Twitter