More than a year after former Chief Rob Davis announced his resignation from the Lethbridge Police Service, his replacement has now been sworn in.
Shahin Mehdizadeh was officially made the chief of LPS in a ceremony on Monday afternoon at Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden.
Scott Woods had served as interim chief since Davis’ departure, and he will now go back to his former role as deputy chief.
Chief Mehdizadeh called it an honour to be appointed to his new position and said he recognizes he now has a lot of work to do to get up to speed on the inner workings of LPS.
“The beginning phase would just be doing a lot of observing, listening and learning, which is critical for me to have a good background to continue with the good work that they’ve been doing already.”
Mehdizadeh said he plans on keeping LPS accountable to the public and to institute an “open-door policy” with all members of the force.
“My door is always open for anyone,” he said. “One of the first things that I’m going to be doing is meeting with each and every employee — it’s going to take me a few months… but even if it’s for half an hour, to get to know them, who they are and get to know the culture of the organization.”
The culture at LPS has been scrutinized and questioned over the last few years, with Woods most recently addressing allegations in a statement to the public.
“I think culturally there’s always issues with any police service,” Woods said Monday. “We certainly have not been short of those throughout my career, and I think that that’s been something that’s been at the head for most of my career.
“I think morale is often related with culture, and it’s tough in this day and age to have morale.”
Mehdizadeh said he hopes the culture at LPS in his tenure will include transparency and accountability.
“Policing is an environment that’s always under a microscope, and our challenge is always to do the best job that we can to serve the community,” said the new chief. “From my understanding and knowledge, there are no perfect police forces in this country.
“At times the ball is dropped, and the key is to look at what event happened and how we can correct that and move forward.”
During Monday’s event, a blanket ceremony was performed by Blackfoot elders who adopted Mehdizadeh with the Blackfoot name Wolf Butte.
The new chief joins LPS after more than 30 years with the RCMP, in which he most recently served as the chief superintendent of the Central Alberta District.
Comments