Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh said he is troubled by the Hells Angels opening up a chapter in the city. Over the years, Mehdizadeh said he suspects the Hells Angels have been influencing criminal activities in Lethbridge. “Right now it’s no different than that except we have some of their members actually living here,” said Mehdizadeh in an interview. When a gang moves into a city, he said it is bad news. However, he pointed out the good news is there are good police units in Lethbridge and significant collaboration with the rest of Canada to manage the Hells Angels. He said LPS obtained intelligence it had moved into Lethbridge a while ago. He predicted it has set up a chapter because it wants to have a stronger physical presence in southern Alberta, showing other motorcycle gangs they are around. Any time it holds an event, he said it will have a heavy police presence. As he has said before, it has a foot in Canada and worldwide, so there are many police units who work on it. These police units will come to its events to monitor what is going on. This is because they want to ensure people are safe and to gather more intelligence. Like many cities in Canada, he said Lethbridge has significant opportunities for the drug trade. Hells Angels has been known to be involved in the drug trade. The chief went on to say LPS will monitor it, gather intelligence, and bring enforcement action when possible. With these groups, he said there is always a hierarchy. Regardless of where members are in the hierarchy, he said they have to be held accountable. He added it will “make it very known to them we are looking at them and hoping they are going to behave and not cause any problems.” When LPS kicked Commandos Motorcycle Club out of Honkers Pub and Eatery, he said it was done because of suspicions it was a puppet club. He acknowledged it has the authority to remove motorcycle clubs from licensed establishments if they are wearing their cuts. If these members go to these establishments without their cuts, it could not take action against them. These powers exist to control their visibility and presence and ensure groups know they are being monitored. He said it is too premature to say the Hells Angels will increase crime in Lethbridge. One major concern he said it has is potential for violence from rival gangs. Mehdizadeh concluded by saying LPS wants to stop the Hells Angels to reduce crime. “But again, as I said earlier, this organization has grown very large and influential within the criminal organizations and violent over the years,” he said. “It’s not an easy task to just stop them, but all we can do right now is look at how we can monitor and disrupt them.” LPS kicked out Commandos from Honkers during a charity event on July 13 because it can bar biker groups from entering licensed establishments. READ MORE: Lethbridge police remove veterans' biker club from bar during charity eventHonkers owner Vicky Vanden Hoek said 35 Commandos members came into the bar and were not causing any problems. “But somebody must have tipped them off to the police or maybe they had an undercover,” said Vanden Hoek.
