Western Standard - March 15, 2024


Alberta Introduces Bill 11 Strengthening Policing with Ankle Bracelet Program


Episode Stats


Length

4 minutes

Words per minute

174.66544

Word count

757

Sentence count

56


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis joins us to talk about the new legislation introduced by the Alberta government that expands the role of sheriffs across the province. Minister Ellis also talks about the need for a civilian oversight board to oversee law enforcement in Alberta.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 Alberta's government is introducing legislation that is designed to improve policing in Alberta
00:00:05.300 to make our community safer.
00:00:07.720 Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis, of course, is behind that,
00:00:12.180 and Minister Ellis joins us now to talk more about it.
00:00:14.360 Good day, Minister.
00:00:15.440 Good day, Bruce.
00:00:17.000 Set it up for us.
00:00:18.780 I said it's designed to make our community safer.
00:00:21.240 It's designed to give more resources to our officers.
00:00:24.680 Explain to us the legislation, how it will work.
00:00:26.800 Yeah, I mean, as we've seen with our Alberta sheriffs, more and more we're putting extra duties on them.
00:00:35.040 They are really, at this time, performing roles that are police officer roles,
00:00:40.040 whether it be highway patrol, whether it be the safe communities and neighborhoods teams,
00:00:44.660 fugitive apprehension teams.
00:00:46.260 They work very closely with ALERT as an example as well.
00:00:50.460 And then, of course, we've seen the need for that visible presence that I've stated many times.
00:00:55.680 You know, we've obviously had sheriffs that have been deployed in the streets of Calgary and Edmonton.
00:01:00.420 I have other municipalities throughout Alberta that have also made requests for sheriff presence.
00:01:06.760 And, you know, really, it's about ensuring that, you know, as they're taking on these duties,
00:01:11.000 as, you know, duties of police officers, I think it's time to evolve because it's really about civilian oversight.
00:01:18.740 And so we need that civilian oversight and a civilian oversight board, which actually, quite frankly, just doesn't exist at the moment.
00:01:26.100 Okay.
00:01:26.420 Well, that's my next question.
00:01:27.700 It's almost, yeah, it's the next area we should go.
00:01:34.360 A civilian oversight board, to most people, might mean, wait a second here.
00:01:38.320 You're going to be leaning over their shoulder, you know, watching what they're doing, controlling their every move.
00:01:42.620 That's not the intent.
00:01:43.900 Explain how this works.
00:01:45.100 Well, exactly.
00:01:46.700 It's not the intent.
00:01:47.900 In fact, I would say it's the opposite.
00:01:50.700 So in a police commission, as an example, there are politicians, municipal politicians that belong to police commissions.
00:01:58.100 In the civilian oversight board, there actually is going to be no political interference.
00:02:03.660 And I think that that's a good thing.
00:02:06.100 So I want to go back to the role of the sheriffs a little bit.
00:02:09.000 Look, their role is expanding.
00:02:10.620 Is this just a case, Minister, of getting all hands on deck, of doing all that we can to address the escalating crime issues in the province?
00:02:22.500 Yeah.
00:02:23.180 I mean, I've said this time and time again.
00:02:25.440 Well, again, the, you know, federal liberal NDP government has created an environment that has allowed, you know, organized crime.
00:02:33.420 And, of course, we have repeat offenders that are being released into the streets.
00:02:37.900 So we do need to start thinking outside of the box.
00:02:41.660 You know, many of our police services, you know, our RCMP, I mean, they're going call to call to call.
00:02:47.040 So, really, it's a bit of an evolution.
00:02:49.340 We need to support and augment, you know, these police services.
00:02:55.000 And it's not exclusive to the RCMP, although we do, you know, understand there's, of course, real crime issues.
00:03:01.040 But as I previously noted, you know, Calgary and Edmonton, you know, when asked upon if they need further support, we're there to help them as well.
00:03:08.040 You also intend to implement an ankle bracelet monitoring program for dangerous offenders, I'm assuming.
00:03:15.580 Talk to us about that, how that will work.
00:03:18.340 Yeah.
00:03:18.540 I mean, for the most part, it's pretty much for anybody who's out on release.
00:03:22.920 So people that are, you know, out on bail, as an example, we talked about the broken bail system because of C75 and really because of the, you know, again, the NDP liberal alliance that has broken the bail system.
00:03:35.520 This is, again, thinking outside of the box, providing a tool in the toolbox.
00:03:40.060 So this is something that corrections is going to be looking after.
00:03:44.960 And certainly if a prosecutor or defense or a combination thereof makes an application to the courts for an accused who may be released on bail or, you know, again, any other form of release that a judge so deems appropriate.
00:04:00.440 We just want to make sure that the judiciary has the tool in the toolbox in order to help to keep the community safe.
00:04:08.380 Minister, that's what it's all about for you, I know, and for this premier and your government.
00:04:12.480 Listen, appreciate the time to explain it to us.
00:04:15.780 And we'll have you back on again soon.
00:04:17.500 Thanks so much.
00:04:18.440 Thanks very much, Bruce.
00:04:19.040 Thank you.