Crime in Lethbridge was down 16 per cent in 2024 compared to the year before, according to the Lethbridge Police Service.
The LPS says the decrease led to an 18 per cent drop in Lethbridge’s Crime Severity Index.
According to the LPS, crime peaked in 2019 with 16,969 criminal violations, and that figure has decreased every year since to 12,939 incidents in 2024—a 24 per cent drop in incidents.
“It is amazing news for the city,” said police chief Shahin Mehdizadeh.
“If it’s just a one-year deal then you can say we just got lucky or somebody wasn’t in town, but when you look at consistent reduction every year, year after year, that’s a good sign.”
In 2024, the LPS says person crime dropped 11 per cent, while property crime dropped 24 per cent compared to the year before.
Break-and-enters saw a decrease of 35 per cent in 2024, with mischief incidents dropping by 24 per cent.
The LPS says sexual assaults decreased by 38 per cent last year.
All four areas of the city—downtown, north, west and south—saw crime reductions, with the west side seeing the highest decrease at 25 per cent.
“Over the last few years, a lot of hard work has been done by many people in this department to actually look at the causation of crime and where the resources need to be deployed so we can better tackle this,” said Mehdizadeh.
Lethbridge’s population grew by more than 11,000 people during the same time period.
The chief says the CompStat program—a data-driven model where analytics are used to identify high-crime areas and prolific offenders—and ongoing conditional checks are driving factors behind the drop.
“We actually have some evidence-based approaches in doing police work, which have made the difference and gotten buy-in from the front-line officers who are actually doing the work every day,” explained Mehdizadeh.
He says the reduction has also increased the public’s perception of safety.
The LPS says in a community survey conducted in 2024, 70 per cent of respondents reported they felt safe in Lethbridge, an increase from 65 per cent in 2023.
“Opportunistic property crimes including break-ins, thefts from vehicles and vehicle thefts have decreased significantly, and I believe the steps people are taking to lock their doors, remove valuables from vehicles and decrease the opportunities for criminals are having a great impact,” said Mehdizadeh.
The information was presented to the Lethbridge Police Commission on Wednesday.
“Policing is all about being adaptable and agile to what’s going on out there, so we’ll continue doing that,” said Mehdizadeh.
He says ongoing enforcement initiatives and projects to target crime in the city will continue throughout the year.
