Project Street Sweeper to deal with Lethbridge property crime
LETHBRIDGE – It’s been dubbed “Project Street Sweeper” but, it has nothing to do with road maintenance. It is a targeted project by the Lethbridge Police Priority Crimes Unit and Lethbridge ALERT to put a crimp in property crime and, hopefully, recover pilfered items.
Staff Sgt. Jason Walper notes the reason for the project is an obvious increase in property crime.
“Over the last three years, we have seen a significant increase in property related crime – specifically, we’ve noticed in the last year we’ve had an increase in thefts of 33 per cent, break-and-enters are up by 43 per cent and checking our stolen autos, we know that between January and May of 2016, compared to the same time this year, we’re over double the number of vehicles stolen in the same period.”
With those numbers in mind, Priority Crimes and ALERT officers are combining their efforts to target chronic offenders and reduce the number of incidents, while trying to recover stolen property.