LETHBRIDGE POLICE COMBINE EFFORTS TO STEM GANG CRIME

Illicit Activity Spills Over From Bigger Cities

LETHBRIDGE - A joint-forces unit formed to track and collar
gun-runners, drug dealers and organized crime groups is up and
running in Lethbridge.

The group, called the Lethbridge Integrated Intelligence Unit, was
launched in February with the goal of cracking down on spill-over
crime from bigger cities like Calgary.

"Because criminals don't respect borders they travel a great distance
to ply their wares," said Lethbridge Regional Police Service Chief
John Middleton-Hope.

Made up of officers from the Lethbridge police and Lethbridge RCMP,
the team shares information and co-operates on high-priority files in the area.

The information gathered will be shared with the Criminal
Intelligence Service Alberta, a central bureau which collects and
distributes information on crime trends among Alberta's law
enforcement agencies.

Middleton-Hope said organized crime groups are functioning in
Lethbridge, mainly dealing drugs such as cocaine, crack cocaine,
marijuana, and methamphetamine.

The spinoff effect from those crimes include stolen property,
escorts, exotic dancers, identity theft, fraud, internet crimes,
counterfeit money and money laundering.

Middleton-Hope said the area, with it's 15,000 post-secondary
students, is prime territory for drug dealers.

"There's a significant resource base that you can leverage," he said.

The big-city crime trend hasn't gone unnoticed by the city's Mayor Bob Tarleck.

"There are issues that obviously spill over here. People used to
boast that they didn't have to lock their doors. Those days are
gone," said Tarleck.

"I'd be naive to not think the tentacles of organized crime in
Calgary and Vancouver don't reach here, because they do."

According to the police service's 2006-2008 strategic plan, the
creation two years ago of the north and south Integrated Response to
Organized Crime teams -- known as IROC -- pushed outlaw motorcycle
gangs, Asian gangs, and aboriginal gangs to the smaller cities.

"It's created a displacement. It's moved from major centres to
smaller and mid-size centres. In large part there's a perception that
crime doesn't happen outside Calgary," said Middleton-Hope. "We have
a number of drug traffickers in this area."

The integration of officers from various policing agencies will help
law enforcement maximize its crime-fighting power, he said.