'Here to help': The Watch celebrating 5 years of patrolling Lethbridge streets

Volunteers with The Watch have been patrolling Lethbridge streets for five years. (CTV News)

LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. -

Volunteers with ‘The Watch’ program in Lethbridge have been patrolling the city centre rain or shine for five years.

“I feel amazing about our program and what we have done in the five years,” said Tashiah Robbins, who has been with The Watch since it started on May 1, 2019.

What began as a three-year Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) pilot project to enhance community safety during the opioid crisis has grown to become a full-time unit within LPS.

“Knowing that we work for the police department was a huge barrier when we first started,” said Shane Kisinger, manager of The Watch.

“So, it took a lot for (volunteers) to build a rapport with the at-risk population and get to know them, but I think what that means to them is that they know we are on the street 12 hours a day, every single day except for holidays, and we are safe, consistent and professional.”

The Watch has had 100 volunteers and 33 team leads serving a total of 18,666 hours since 2019.

“We had a little of growing pains near the beginning, but where we are now, the unhoused population love to talk to us, they know that we are here to help them,” Robbins said.

Since launching, The Watch has dealt with 31,990 calls with police, EMS or wellness checks.

They’ve completed 1,235 safe walks, transported 2,001 individuals and provided Narcan to 199 overdose calls.

“We’ve had some high numbers,” Kisinger explained. “If you look at 2022, that was really busy year for us as well. It seems this year is slowing down compared to years in the past so hopefully we're not as busy because being busy means there's social problems are the streets.”

While the majority of The Watch is comprised of volunteers, there are a handful of full-time paid staff members.

Kenlin Dijkstra has been a team lead with The Watch since October. He, like many who volunteer, is hoping to pursue a career in the policing industry.

“It's not an easy thing to ask someone to come and serve their community and then also not get paid for it,” Dijkstra said.

“So, it's just amazing the work and effort they put into it and you definitely see a difference that they make.”

With May 1 marking five years in service, Kisinger applauds the work done by LPS and the volunteers, but also gives credit to the community they serve.

“How we've been able to be successful for the last five years is definitely, half of it, is how the at-risk population treat us and they treat us quite well,” he added.