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Lethbridge police chief speaks following allegations of corruption

LETHBRIDGE (660 NEWS) – The Chief of the Lethbridge Police Service spoke Wednesday morning following allegations of corruption within the force.

In a statement, the police service said it is taking the allegations seriously and that “such actions reflect badly on the service as a whole, and damage our relationship with the community.”

“As a Police Service we are privileged with access to certain information about our citizens. Every citizen deserves the right to privacy when it comes to that information. It is our duty to protect that information and their privacy, and only access the systems in place through the lawful execution of our duties, and when required to do so.”

Chief Sahin Mehdizadeh admits the service is not perfect but said nobody is, adding, people shouldn’t put the organization down due to the actions of a few.

This comes after two separate stories regarding the police service broke including one involving a former Alberta cabinet minister.

In one report, a woman said she entered a non-consensual relationship with a retired police officer who is now the head of a victim advocacy group. She said she reported it to Lethbridge police, they were dismissive of the complaint.

The police service is also under fire after documents, released earlier this week, showed five different officers may have used police databases to access the personal information of NDP MLA Shannon Phillips.

That matter is being investigated by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT).

Phillips said she recently found evidence of such checks when she searched her file under freedom of information rules.

That episode is on top of a separate case involving two Lethbridge officers who admitted to staking out and photographing Phillips at a diner in 2017 because they were concerned about her reducing off-highway vehicle use in the nearby Castle park region.

Those two officers were temporarily demoted last summer, but Phillips said that punishment is too lenient and she recently won the right to appeal the decision.

Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Kaycee Madu said he is outraged at these allegations adding law enforcement officers have a great deal of power and all Albertans should be angry when that power is abused.

Madu said he spoke with chief Mehdizadeh on Tuesday but the details of that conversation are unknown.

Chief Mehdizadeh said all police employees are put through harassment training. He wouldn’t comment on whether disciplinary action would be taken against the accused officers.

 

With files from The Canadian Press 

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