Two years ago, the municipality of Lethbridge had a crime severity index (CSI) score of 144.55, but newly-released statistics show a year can make a big difference.
On Tuesday, Statistics Canada released the 2024 CSI. Lethbridge saw its steepest decrease in a quarter century, dropping almost 19 per cent year-over-year to 117.77.
“We just want to make sure that we continue trending in the right direction, doing the things that we do to make sure that we have a safer community,” said Lethbridge Mayor Blaine Hyggen.
“It’s by reinvesting in our police, reinvesting in some of the social agencies that we are working with.”
The first-term mayor says that despite the improved score, there is still a lot of work to be done in the southern Alberta city of more than 100,000 people.
“I wish I could say that all of a sudden there’s no crime because we’re dropping down and Lethbridge is free of crime. That’s not the case.”
Even so, he says it’s a positive trend. Lethbridge hasn’t seen a double-digit-per cent increase in CSI since 2018.
“We’ll continue our collective efforts to keep Lethbridge safe and a welcoming community. Today’s stats reinforce our positive direction.”
The Lethbridge census metropolitan area had a CSI score of 105.51 in 2024, down 18.71 per cent from 129.79 in 2023.
According to Lethbridge Police Service deputy chief Gerald Grobmeier, fewer auto thefts have helped contribute to the lower scores.
“People are, I think, hearing the messages. They’re locking their doors, they’re taking things out of their vehicles so things aren’t accessible. They’re not leaving their keys in their car when they’re running, they’re making it a little bit more difficult to steal things.”
While he says a small portion of repeat criminals often make up over 80 per cent of crimes in most municipalities, locking people up isn’t always the solution.
“We still have an opioid epidemic, not in this city, but in this country and in North America. That is a real issue and until we address those root causes, we’re always going to have these types of crimes that will never go away,” said Grobmeier.
Both Hyggen and Grobmeier say strides are being made in finding solutions to the drug problem, however. For now, the City of Lethbridge and Lethbridge Police Service say they are glad to see the numbers dropping to its lowest in Lethbridge since 2015.