Justice Minister threatening to dissolve Lethbridge police department
Posted Mar 24, 2021 12:45 pm.
Last Updated Mar 25, 2021 7:03 am.
LETHBRIDGE — Alberta’s justice minister is threatening to dissolve the Lethbridge police department.
Kaycee Madu’s office has confirmed to 660 NEWS that Madu has given the Lethbridge police force’s chief a three-week deadline to produce a plan to shape up, or the department will be dissolved by the government.
It follows complaints about the service, including that several employees undertook potentially unauthorized searches of a cabinet minister’s personal information on police databases.
Two officers have already been disciplined for photographing and following NDP MLA Shannon Phillips while she was environment minister.
Others were reprimanded for sharing offensive memes.
Madu met with Police Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh and the chair of the police commission on Mar. 9 expressing his concerns and his commitment to restoring public confidence in the service.
He’s since sent letters containing the ultimatum to Lethbridge’s police chief, the police commission chair, and the city’s mayor.
Wednesday afternoon, the Lethbridge Police Service sent out a statement, responding to the situation:
“The Service is able to offer such assurance, as we have been developing an action plan over the past several months to address the problems raised by these troubling past cases. In fact, while the Minister had set a deadline of April 16 to receive such a report from us, we expect to provide it much earlier. As soon as it is reviewed and approved by the Lethbridge Police Commission, we will be sending it to the Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General.
WATCH: Lethbridge police chief responds to investigation
The action plan will contain a number of measures, and set an identifiable timeframe for delivery, but an underlying common theme will be to ensure consistent accountability and a consistently high standard of integrity in our service delivery. Further details of this plan can be released at appropriate times in the future.
We are confident that the Service is on the right path to correcting past behaviours and restoring public trust. We are committed to demonstrating our dedication to these goals in the months and years ahead.”
