Photo: contributed
Okanagan Central Deputy Nicola Dan Albas
This week is a week without meetings for the House of Commons, which allows MPs to return to their constituencies to meet with local residents and listen to their concerns.
One of the challenges of public office is that while some concerns may fall exclusively under the jurisdiction of local, provincial or federal government, other concerns overlap and fall under various jurisdictions.
I point this out because one of the serious concerns I am hearing from many communities in our region is the prolific criminals and what many call our justice system “catch and release”.
Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran and Kelowna West MP Ben Stewart have met with me to share information and raise concerns, as well as many residents looking for answers to what remains a thorny issue. In almost every community there is a small but well-known group of criminals who commit serious crimes on a regular basis.
A recent community news article summed up the situation well: “A judge has granted bail to a prolific criminal on Wednesday afternoon, giving him one more chance to meet his conditions after being arrested several times for allegedly not to comply with them “.
It is reported that the offender in question has already had 60 convictions in the last decade.
The police are also very frustrated. In some situations, these offenders will commit crimes within hours of being released while awaiting trial.
When you hear about the victims, it’s devastating. An elderly person with mobility problems had their motorized scooter stolen from a safe underground garage. He was uninsured and could not afford to replace him. The big one has become tied to home and its quality of life has deteriorated tremendously.
The person (believed to be responsible) was captured, charged and immediately released and is again (believed to be) committing crimes within the community.
At the provincial level, the BC government has admitted that it is aware that this is a serious problem, but has no idea how to solve it. Attorney General David Eby has announced that the government will hire two experts to come up with ideas on how to deal with this serious problem.
Fortunately, in our Conservative opposition caucus, we have a new MP with significant experience in this area. Frank Caputo, Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP, is a former Crown prosecutor with experience in corrections, who also served as a law professor at Thompson Rivers University.
He recently introduced the C-274 MP bill. When he introduced the bill, he noted that approximately 5% of criminals commit 90% of crimes using police resources. Many of these criminals commit these crimes while awaiting trial for other crimes.
Bill C-274 proposes to create a “presumptive detention” for criminals charged with three or more felonies charged with a maximum sentence of five years or more. This would not be a mandatory requirement, however, it would allow judges more discretion to keep serious offenders in prison where they cannot continue to reoffend.
If a judge considered that there was an exceptional reason or circumstance for the release of a habitual offender, he would still have the power to release the person.
This bill will not address all of the challenges facing our local communities in crime, but it could certainly help local law enforcement deal with serious offenders and repeat offenders. He was proud to support Bill C-274.
My question this week:
Do you support this bill?
You can contact me at [email protected] or call toll-free 1-800-665-8711
This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect Castanet’s views.