Alberta Sheriffs announced Wednesday that six new positions will be created for a Safer Communities and Neighborhoods (SCAN) unit in Lethbridge to serve southern Alberta.
SCAN has been in Calgary and Edmonton since 2008, and its purpose is to shut down any suspicious activity on residential properties using investigation and law enforcement. According to the Government of Alberta, the past four years have seen almost 500 cases opened up in southern Alberta, far outside of Calgary. These cases will now be covered by the new Lethbridge unit and create more timely responses.
According to Statistics Canada, Lethbridge has been frequently ranked in the top 5 areas on Canada's crime severity index. It held the national top spot for three years in a row and dropped to 3rd last year. Crime rate in Medicine Hat has risen by 3.2 per cent since last year as well.
Mike Ellis, minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services, spoke at a press conference in Lethbridge on Wednesday and shared that the need for SCAN in southern Alberta is critical.
"There has been a significant increase in complaints from Medicine Hat and other southern Alberta communities, emphasizing the need for increased law enforcement efforts in the region," Ellis said.
Ellis also said that the new SCAN unit will cover as far north as Vulcan, as far west as the Crowsnest Pass, as far south as the US border, and as far east as the Saskatchewan boundary.
Nathan Neudorf, MLA for Lethbridge-East, also highlighted the importance of having SCAN in the local vicinity for response times.
"It will shrink the response time for these specially trained officers for incidents and calls not only in Lethbridge, but all of southern Alberta," he said.
"This is not just about addressing symptoms but digging out the root cause of crime in our region," Neudorf added.
Gerald Grobmeier, deputy chief of the Lethbridge Police Service, commented on how big of a help the Calgary-based SCAN unit has been to their operations, and their confidence in the brand-new Lethbridge-based unit.
"We appreciate all they (the Calgary-based SCAN unit) have done and are very confident that the presence of a Lethbridge-based team will continue to build on that momentum," Grobmeier said.
More information on SCAN can be found here.
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