00:07:28.920Good morning, everyone, and welcome. I am pleased to join my fellow Cabinet Minister Mike Ellis, City of Lethbridge Mayor Blaine Higgin, Alberta Sheriff's Deputy Chief Greg Medley, and Lethbridge Police Service Deputy Chief Gerald Grabmeyer for this announcement.
00:07:43.360Lethbridge in southern Alberta is truly one of the great parts of this country in which to live, and I'm proud to represent the people here and have raised my family in this city.
00:07:51.600But we are not immune to the major crime issues that have plagued centres all across Canada.
00:07:58.360And with that, it is our government's commitment to make public safety a major plank in our platform on this recent election.
00:08:05.880And this announcement shows that we are following through on this promise right here in Lethbridge.
00:08:11.160Installing a scan unit in Lethbridge represents a major step towards combating crime in this area.
00:08:16.380It will shrink the response time for these specially trained officers for incidents and calls,
00:08:21.000not just in Lethbridge but all of southern Alberta.
00:08:24.260This is not just about addressing symptoms but digging out the root causes of crime in our region.
00:08:31.780With 363 complaints between 2019 and September 30, 2023,
00:08:37.080this is about 20% of the cavalry unit's caseload,
00:08:40.640which is an oversized proportion of what the officers here in Lethbridge would have to handle.
00:08:45.860So it is critical that these issues continue to be dealt with.
00:08:48.680Our Lethbridge Police Service does terrific work, and it is this province's government's job to help.
00:08:55.220By putting more boots on the ground, assisting in investigations, and ensuring the safety of our people however we can, and this is what we are doing.
00:09:02.060We also know that this is just one part of making our community safer.
00:09:05.460The provincial government has also stepped up efforts in addiction recovery, which will further contribute to making our streets safer.
00:09:12.440Albertans should feel safe in their own communities, and today's announcement will aid in that pursuit.
00:09:16.980And now I'd like to hand the mic over to Greg Medley, the Deputy Chief of our Alberta Sheriffs.
00:09:27.180Good morning. Thank you, Minister Newdorf.
00:09:29.360Thanks to everyone for attending today.
00:09:31.940It is an exciting day for the Alberta Sheriffs and the proud SCAN investigators who work diligently and professionally every day to help keep Alberta safe.
00:09:40.600As Minister Ellis mentioned, the SCAN unit has done a lot of work in and around the Lethbridge area in recent years,
00:09:45.780with 363 investigations in the city between 2019 to present.
00:09:52.400Nine of those cases have resulted in community safety's orders
00:09:55.200where SCAN investigators from Calgary obtained legal authorization
00:09:59.080to close properties for a specific period of time.
00:10:02.400Those are the cases that typically make the news,
00:10:05.500the ones you hear about when investigators and crews arrive to board up houses
00:10:08.780and fence off the properties at the end of the investigation.
00:10:12.920Those successful outcomes are the result of investigations that can be complex and time-consuming.
00:10:18.560People occasionally comment about the length of time SCAN investigations can take, so it's worth mentioning why.
00:10:25.820Most of the complaints investigated by SCAN are resolved informally, the vast majority,
00:10:30.820by working with owners to put an end to the illegal activity on their properties that is causing disruption in the community and neighbourhoods.
00:10:37.500More extreme cases that are not resolved by informal means like warning letters
00:10:41.500require more serious action like those nine cases here in Lethbridge that resulted in community
00:10:46.540safety orders. Taking legal action against someone's property and imposing conditions
00:10:51.100on their use and occupancy is serious business and doing so quite rightly requires the Alberta
00:10:57.900Sheriffs to gather sufficient evidence to convince a court that it is absolutely necessary.
00:11:03.420Gathering evidence to substantiate drug activities of property takes time.
00:11:08.480That's simply the nature of these type of investigations.
00:11:11.440Despite the added challenges of travel time between Calgary and the communities in southern Alberta,
00:11:16.140the scan unit has achieved some very good results in the region.
00:11:19.840One reason for that success is the strong relationship our investigators have developed with local police,
00:11:25.500like our fantastic partners here with Lethbridge Police Service.
00:11:28.220evidence gathered by local police can play an important role in scan investigations
00:11:33.460police in turn can often use evidence gathered by scan investigators to bolster their criminal
00:11:38.160investigations and lay criminal charges the scan units work with police has been in many cases an
00:11:44.240effective combination for putting a stop to criminal activity that has plagued some
00:11:48.180neighborhoods for long periods of time with the addition of six investigators here in southern
00:11:53.120alberta we are looking forward to strengthening our partnerships with the police in lethbridge
00:11:57.400Medicine Hat, Tabor, and in the communities policed by the RCMP.
00:12:02.180Being physically located in Southern Alberta will help investigators deepen their knowledge of local issues,
00:12:08.100improve our connection with the communities we serve.
00:12:11.400Our relationship with the community is such an important part of the work we do.
00:12:15.640While SCAN investigations provide the community with a valuable tool for combating illegal activity,
00:12:20.760it is equally true that the community is a vital resource for the SCAN unit.
00:12:24.160citizens are our eyes and ears the starting point for scan investigations is generally a complaint
00:12:31.280from the member of the public being actually located in the community is an exciting opportunity
00:12:36.560to build on the success we've had in southern alberta our investigators based here in lethbridge
00:12:41.840started the week of november 6 and i know in speaking with them they're looking forward to
00:12:46.000making a positive difference in the communities around the region for anyone who wants to learn
00:12:51.120more about the scan unit and the work it does or if you have concerns about illegal or problem
00:12:55.680properties in your community you can find more information and file a complaint online by
00:13:00.960visiting alberta.ca backslash report suspicious property with a hyphen between reports suspicious
00:13:08.160and property or call 1-866-960-7226 thank you for your time i'd like to invite mayor higgin
00:13:18.160to provide some remarks okay and thank you for having me be here today i'm i'm joined by my
00:13:27.520colleagues uh acting mayor middleton hope councillor paladino and councillor schmidt
00:13:31.760rempel thank you very much for being here this announcement is truly exciting when i ran for
00:13:38.240mayor i and many others said the community safety was our number one priority today's announcement
00:13:45.040is a gigantic step forward to follow up on that.
00:17:47.280This brings us to the question and answer portion of our announcement. We do have some
00:17:51.840media on the floor and on the lines. I just asked media on the floor and on the
00:17:56.820line that you ask one question with a follow-up question and if we could keep
00:18:01.260it focused on the scan announcement. So we'll head to the floor first. Are there
00:18:05.400any questions? It's just a mic to your left.
00:18:14.840Micah Quinton from Global Lethbridge. Question for Minister Ellis. Maybe just
00:18:21.220talk a little bit more about costs for this specific unit coming to Lethbridge and Region 2?
00:18:26.940Well, we set aside money on a budget 2023. Obviously, you know, public safety was a
00:18:34.940significant issue, not just before the election, but during the election and of course after the
00:18:39.920election. And so we made sure the necessary funds were in place. I don't have this specific number
00:18:45.660for you, but I'm sure we can get that for you. But, you know, we talked about doubling the size
00:18:50.040of our scan teams. We talked about hubs. This is going to be the first hub, which is in Lethbridge
00:18:54.880area. I know that we're looking at other jurisdictions all throughout Alberta. You know,
00:19:00.920just off the top of my head, you know, Red Deer seems to be an area that I think is worth looking
00:19:07.860at, and some areas in northern Alberta as well. I mean, it goes back to response times, right?
00:19:13.620You know, sure, it's nice having officers deployed from Calgary and Edmonton, but do they get there
00:19:18.420quick enough the answer is no right so making sure that we have uh consistent service throughout the
00:19:23.220province of alberta that's what we're trying to do from a public safety perspective uh just to
00:19:27.940follow up to you you mentioned calgary edmonton um there has been obviously a rise in violent crime
00:19:33.300there too um is the province actively addressing this and what's being done to to curb this crime
00:19:38.820too yeah uh thanks uh thanks very much for the question but thanks for also recognizing that i
00:19:43.620I mean, as I already mentioned, public safety is a significant issue prior to the election, during the election, of course, even after the election.
00:19:52.360Look, I have not, I've been very vocal about this.
00:19:57.920You know, all of us as provinces are very much united on this issue where it comes back to Bill C-75, where it made it virtually impossible to keep people in what is known as pretrial custody.
00:20:11.320The paradigm shift that we're doing here in Alberta, right, where the police are not an arm of the state, but instead an extension and a reflection of the community that they serve.
00:20:21.100I mean, the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods unit is a perfect example of that.
00:20:25.560It's about going in, understanding that there is a problem property recognized by community members.
00:20:31.580And I know this because I used to be a community liaison officer when I was in the Calgary Police Service, one of the many hats that I wore.
00:20:37.820And having the ability for the Lethbridge Police Service to call on the Sheriff's Department to say, hey, this is a problem that we have and we need some extra attention on it, that is going to have a significant ripple effect throughout the community, right?
00:20:53.860So that means whether drugs are being funneled through there, whether stolen property is being funneled through there, whether illegal guns are being funneled through there.
00:21:02.260These are some of the things that we're talking about here.
00:21:05.200But in regards to, you know, Calgary, look, it's deeply concerning for me. I live in Calgary. We're all from Alberta. We're all Canadians. And to see this rise in violent crime, let me be clear here, we're doing what we can to tackle organized crime.
00:21:21.940There's an enormous investment that we've made with Alert. There's enormous investment we've made
00:21:25.940to support our sheriffs, to augment and support both our RCMP friends as well as the Edmonton
00:21:33.940Police Service. I certainly wish that the Calgary Police Service would ask us again for some more
00:21:40.520assistance. We're happy to provide them assistance because officer presence matters. People need to
00:21:45.760feel safe in their communities. And there also has to be a level of accountability. You heard me
00:21:49.920talk about bill c75 you know i hate to say this but you know people who are offenders need to
00:21:56.460understand that there are consequences for their actions and right now when you're seeing the rise
00:22:01.180in violent crime that we're seeing right now we're in broad daylight there are shootings going on in
00:22:06.560in not just in parking lots but in you know community where where there's where there's
00:22:11.420children and where there's uh families i mean why are they doing that reality is because they feel
00:22:19.160there's no consequences so as i have said to all these law enforcement officers do your job when
00:22:26.600somebody commits a crime i expect you to arrest them if the system lets them lets that person out
00:22:31.880and they commit another crime i expect you to arrest them again so i ask the prosecutors to
00:22:37.640do their job as well and you let myself and my colleagues and the premier worry about the federal
00:22:42.120government to see if we can get some harsher laws on the table here
00:22:44.760do we have any more uh questions from the floor yeah you can go ahead
00:22:52.280uh quinn keenan ctv news uh just um asking specifically about why a scan unit and not
00:23:03.160uh maybe another uh kind of a law enforcement unit what made the scan unit the best option
00:23:08.480here for lethbridge and the lethbridge region well i think there's there's a couple things i
00:23:13.560I mean, once you're, I know one of the conversations the mayor and I were having were just about officer presence, right?
00:23:18.260So, look, I mean, I'm sure the deputy chief and his colleagues are doing their best to hire as many sheriffs as possible.
00:23:25.440I can tell you that the demand is kind of outweighing our ability to even do the hiring, quite frankly.
00:23:31.740We have many mid-sized communities, small communities asking for a sheriff's presence all throughout Alberta.
00:23:39.960Again, this is why we're augmenting and supporting our RCMP, but we're doing what we can.
00:23:45.440In regards to the scan team, again, it goes back to my answer earlier.
00:23:49.760When I was a community liaison officer and you would get multiple complaints about a specific residence,
00:23:59.320It's not as simple as one constable or a couple constables working on it for a day or two.
00:24:04.720These are lengthy investigations with many court applications, warrants, whatever the case may be, to determine what impact that that residence is having on the community from drugs and guns and sometimes human trafficking to whatever the illegal activity is going on.
00:24:27.260So when you focus in on shutting down one of those types of residents, boy, the ripple effect on the community is exponential in a positive way.
00:24:38.460Yeah, and just to follow up, seems like today's announcement is focused primarily on southwestern Alberta.
00:24:43.940Is there any plans in the future for a similar unit or just any sort of law enforcement team coming to southeastern Alberta?
00:24:51.140So this particular unit is going all the way to the, I think, the Saskatchewan border.
00:30:55.340Hello, Minister Ellis. Thank you for taking my question.
00:30:58.340So, my first question for you is, there was a shooting at Marlboro Park a few days ago in Calgary involving an 18-year-old and a 14-year-old who perpetrated it. What do you think?
00:31:35.960Well, first of all, the fact that there was a shooting certainly is unacceptable.
00:31:42.260The fact that we have, you know, young people, 14 and 18 year olds, you know, that is, you know, I think that should be concerning to us as, quite frankly, as Albertans, as a society, as Canadians.
00:32:00.940Your answer is, quite frankly, as good as mine.
00:32:06.140I will say this, because as I was, as many of you know, we're part of the Calgary Police Service for a number of years.
00:32:12.260And part of the paradigm shift that we're doing, which is that we are not an arm of the state, that we are indeed an extension or reflection of the community that we serve, is to make sure that we are, you know, in the community, a part of the community, that people need to know if they need help, that the police are there to help to respond.
00:32:32.640So I can tell you the Calgary Police Service, I don't believe they've changed this, but they have community liaison officers with every diverse group that is even conceivable to make sure that community members understand the police, not just in Calgary, but all throughout Alberta.
00:32:53.560because I know I've had conversations with the Edmonton Police Service and certainly those in
00:32:58.200the Lethbridge and, you know, RCMP is, again, that paradigm shift so that everybody understands
00:33:03.920that the police are there to help, not to do anything. So, you know, in regards to the
00:33:08.580investigation itself, I mean, it's actually horrific that there was a shooting. It's horrific
00:33:13.640that there's two young people involved. You know, this is the sort of stuff that, you know,
00:33:18.820is unacceptable in our province. And I just know that we're going to continue to do what
00:33:23.540whatever it takes to keep all Albertans safe.
00:33:26.760My second question is, with the expansion of the scan units, obviously it's going to
00:33:37.440be taking on different forms of crime than some of the other policing units in Alberta.
00:33:45.800Where do you stand right now on implementing a provincial police force?