More Lethbridge residents say they have confidence in the city’s police service and feel safe in their community, according to a new public survey released by the Lethbridge Police Service.
The 2026 Community Survey found overall satisfaction with the LPS reached 85 per cent, the highest level recorded over the past four surveys.
The survey also found that the overall perception of community safety has improved.
Eighty-three per cent of respondents described Lethbridge as a safe community, up from 70 per cent in 2024.
Meanwhile, 22 per cent said the city had become safer over the past year, while the number who believed it had become less safe fell to 16 per cent from 31 per cent.
Residents also expressed stronger confidence in police performance.
Ninety-one per cent rated the job the service is doing policing the community as adequate or better, while 90 per cent gave the same rating to the professionalism of police personnel. Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they believe the service has enough officers to respond to calls and help keep the community safe.
Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh said the results reflect the efforts of officers, civilian staff and community partners.
“The biggest measure of our success and service delivery to the community is the trust of the community in the police service, and when those numbers continuously go up – and the recent response that we got – it’s very satisfying,” Mehdizadeh stated.
He added that the positive response is a boost for LPS employees as well.
“It’s good for our employees to get that recognition for the hard work they do every day to actually bring [in] these results from the community,” the chief said, commending the service’s “professional and dedicated team”.
Mehdizadeh said visibility in and engagement with the community are key elements that have helped guide the positive numbers.
“Those things don’t go unnoticed by our citizens,” he remarked. “The more visibility we have and the more we engage with the community certainly helps to build the trust and give that sense of safety, which increases that perception of safety in the community.”
Mehdizadeh added that he tries to get out to as many local events and interact with as many local groups as he can, to gain a first-hand understanding of what citizens are looking for from the police service.
Survey respondents identified drug crime, crimes against persons and property crime as the policing issues they want the service to continue prioritizing, with Mehdizadeh adding that traffic is another area of focus moving forward.
The biennial survey is one of several tools the Lethbridge Police Service uses to measure public confidence and help guide future policing priorities.
MAYOR’S RESPONSE
Mayor Blaine Hyggen said he was very pleased with the survey results.
Hyggen noted he has received many calls about improved safety in downtown Lethbridge.
“It’s night and day, talking to some individuals that have connected with me, business owners who were struggling a few years back and have just said it’s been a night and day change,” he said. “People are happy to go downtown, they feel safe to be downtown.”
“Folks are very happy with what’s been done, and [you can] see [it] with the results of the survey, so we couldn’t be happier as council,” Hyggen added.
The mayor said ensuring that the LPS is adequately supported is important.
“Safety is our top priority,” Hyggen said. “It’s something that I have expressed throughout my time as mayor and as councillor that that is something of importance in our community, and that’s shared by many of my colleagues, so if we know that there is a way to be safer and it’s a way that we can adequately resource, then that’s what we would do, and those conversations are continuously happening.”
The full survey results are available on the LPS website.
