Opposition outlines crime fight plans

Area United Conservative Party (UCP) MLAs Jason Nixon and Nathan Cooper say their party has a workable plan to counter the rise in crime in rural communities.

The party released a report last week on rural crime and made a number of recommendations. The report is based on consultations with rural landowners and other stakeholders.

For his part, MLA Cooper says the report is an indication that the UCP is prepared to heed the advice and concerns of rural residents.

“One of the things I really appreciated is that much of the report comes from spending time listening to constituents,” said Cooper. “We’ve heard from rural Albertans and really listened to them about things that are important to them.”

MLA Nixon says if implemented the report’s recommendations would be effective in reducing rural crime.

“Unlike the NDP, whose approach failed to consult with victims or communities impacted (by rural crime), we talked to thousands of rural Albertans as well as law enforcement and legal experts,” said Nixon.

“This report represents a blueprint for how a UCP government would begin to tackle this issue and restore faith in our justice systems.”

The report makes recommendations in areas (quoted from report):

• Create a provincially regulated police response system that would link all enforcement agencies to expedite assistance for citizens and facilitate inter-jurisdictional cooperation.
• Educate Albertans on the best numbers to call for crime-related complaints in their area, what details to provide, and the complaint process if service is not required.
• Develop a policy that deals specifically with repeat offenders in order to ensure they are dealt with consistently and effectively across the entire system.
• Encourage increased use of electronic monitoring of high-risk and repeat offenders.
• Establish a digitally secure electronic evidence disclosure database that will share evidence and forensic reports more efficiently.
• Work closely with law enforcement agencies to improve crime data collection.
• Take steps to improve the collection of medical and forensic evidence in rural communities.
• Require Crown prosecutors to consider vulnerabilities specific to rural areas when considering prosecution of property owners who acted in self-defence.

“We need to consider the vulnerability of rural victims and potentially include those as aggravating factors to a crime.

“I think we need to make changes so that criminals know that if they commit crimes that are far from the police, there is the potential that that will be considered as an aggravating factor.”

More work needs to be done to educate residents about what reasonable force means when it comes to self-defence, he said.

“We need to give rural homeowners a much clearer picture of what that is so they will have a better understanding of exactly how they can engage in protecting their families,” he said.

The NDP says the UCP has failed rural property owners by voting against government plans to beef up RCMP and Crown prosecutor resources.

“The report shows that the UCP are all talk and no action when it comes to rural crime,” an Alberta NDP caucus spokesperson said in a media release. “The UCP have repeatedly failed rural Albertans on this important issue. While MLA Cooper was studying rural crime and voting against the resources needed to tackle rural crime, the NDP was showing leadership and taking action that is protecting rural communities.”