LPS Chief Shahin Mehdizahdeh. (Lethbridge News Now)

By The Canadian Press/Connor Gunn

LPS Chief defends integrity of service during MLA spying investigation

Mar 10, 2021 | 2:52 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The chief of the Lethbridge Police Service says it will co-operate fully with a probe into officers who allegedly made unauthorized checks on a provincial cabinet minister.

Chief Shahin Mehdizahdeh also says the force takes the matter surrounding Shannon Phillips seriously. He says the “vast majority” of officers and staff are committed to its policy of bias-free policing.

Mehdizadeh made it clear he does not want members of the public and media to judge an officer for these allegations.

He spoke on recent uncoverings in the investigation of Phillips while it’s currently ongoing.

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Previous story: ASIRT investigating unauthorized use of police databases regarding Shannon Phillips

Alberta’s Serious Incident Response Team is investigating whether five Lethbridge officers and one civilian employee breached the politician’s privacy by making multiple database checks on her while she was the province’s environment minister in 2018.

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

Read more: Appeal to be heard on decision in MLA Phillips surveillance case

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.

More details to come.

(The Canadian Press)