Safe Streets Action Plan

Crime rates and incidents of violence are extremely alarming, tragic, and getting worse. A United Conservative government will not let this stand and will do whatever it takes to ensure Albertans feel safe on their streets, in their homes, and in their communities.

Almost everyday, Albertans wake up to news that someone in their city has been attacked, or worse. These are people’s daughters, sons, parents, friends, and loved ones. The number one job of governments is to protect citizens and ensure the safety of families and communities, but the Liberal-NDP soft-on-crime approach is costing lives. The United Conservative Party is saying: enough is enough.

To combat the rise in crime, United Conservatives are introducing the Safe Streets Action Plan, a comprehensive set of measures across multiple fronts that will help restore safety for Alberta’s cities, communities, and families.

“Albertans deserve to feel safe walking down the street,” said United Conservative Leader Danielle Smith. “We have to address gang violence, expand access to mental health and addiction treatments, and keep violent offenders and sexual offenders off our streets. Anything less is unacceptable.”

The Safe Streets Action Plan will crack down on criminals by utilizing ankle bracelet monitoring for dangerous offenders out on bail and deploy Sheriffs to monitor them. It will mean more patrol officers on our streets, new anti-Fentanyl trafficking teams as well as more funding for internet child exploitation units and gang suppression units. It will also make it easier for moms and dads to know the whereabouts of violent and sexual offenders and invest in women’s shelters and sexual assault counselling. We will do whatever it takes for Albertans to feel safe on their streets, in their homes, and in their communities. 

The Safe Streets Action Plan will:

  • Add 100 police officers to Edmonton and Calgary to address chronic and worsening crime issues, particularly in the downtown cores and on transit, and extend the downtown sheriff redeployment pilot program until, at least, the end of 2023.
  • Expand the use of Alberta Sheriffs in the 24/7 bail monitoring process.
    • Use Alberta’s provincial sheriffs in the monitoring of higher risk offenders released on bail to provide increased protection for Albertans.
  • Ankle bracelet program for violent and/or sexual offenders on bail.
    • Establish a 24/7 electronic monitoring program to help protect Albertans against possible violent reoffenders who are out on bail.
    • Provides further options for courts to impose electronic monitoring as a condition of bail.
  • Specialized Sheriff-led anti-fentanyl and illegal gun trafficking teams to target smugglers bringing deadly drugs and illegal weapons into Alberta.
  • Increased funding for Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) to:
    • Target and suppress gang violence.
    • Expand provincial Cyber Crime Unitand Provincial DNA lab.
    • Increase monitoring of scrap metal dealers and gang connections to reduce catalytic converter theft.
  • Inform Albertans that Clare’s Law enables them to learn whether their partner has any history of domestic assault or sex crimes.
    • Clare’s Law protocol allows Albertans to submit applications to obtain information regarding an intimate partner’s possible history of domestic and/or sexual violence victimizing partners or children.
  • Increase support for the Internet and Child Exploitation (ICE) teams.
    • Funding an engagement team that could deliver education, presentations, and in-person door knocks on low-risk files.
  • Additional investments in women’s shelters and sexual assault counselling/centres over the next four years
    • $10 million to support women’s shelters.
    • $10 million for sexual assault counselling.

Over the past four years, United Conservatives took real steps forward in protecting Albertans. Thanks to the UCP government, convicted sexual offenders and dangerous offenders can no longer legally change their names and hide in their communities. The UCP government introduced Clare’s Law, to enable women to seek out information on their intimate partners that could help protect them. The UCP brought forward a nine-point plan to combat human trafficking, launched a task force, and allocated $21 million to implement the task force’s recommendations. In Budget 2023, we allocated money for fugitive apprehension teams, for gang suppression teams, and for Alberta Sheriff pilot projects. And, most recently, the UCP launched task forces in Edmonton and Calgary to tackle crime.

While the UCP are focused on keeping Alberta families and communities safe, the NDP are running a slate of candidates who have publicly called for our policing services to be cut and defunded. Albertans cannot trust the NDP to keep communities safe when they have a slate of anti-police candidates on the ballot. Rachel Notley also supports the Federal Liberal-NDP catch-and-release bail policies which have caused crime waves on the streets of Calgary and Edmonton.

A large percentage of violent crimes are being committed by repeat offenders out on bail. Edmonton police saw the highest number of violent crimes ever reported in a single year in 2022 and their data connects the rise in violence to changes made by the federal government to the bail system in 2019 under Bill C-75. In the past three years there have been over 3,600 violent occurrences, including 2,200 assaults, by people who were out on bail in Edmonton. Calgary’s Chief of police stated that of the 45 persons charged with Calgary homicides in the last 2.5 years, 23 were out on bail at the time of their alleged offences. This is a direct result of the Liberal-NDP revolving-door justice system. It doesn’t work for Albertans, and the UCP won’t stand for it.

“Safe communities require more funding for robust and diverse police services, not their defunding,” Smith stated. “While Rachel Notley’s NDP refuses to back down from their defund the police rhetoric, United Conservatives will continue to support the men and women in blue as they run toward danger every day to help Albertans.”

The UCP stands with our provincial partners and organizations like the Canadian Associations of Chiefs of Police, in demanding the federal government end the catch-and-release system plaguing our communities, and finally take action to reform Canada’s bail system.

Albertans are looking for real solutions to crime and disorder and the UCP’s Safe Streets Action Plan will deliver. United Conservatives will move Alberta forward by enhancing community safety, keeping hard drugs and illegal guns off the streets, and protecting women and children facing abuse.

Read the full news release here.


Quick Facts:

  • Crime rates and incidents of violence are extremely alarming, tragic, and getting worse. According to a recent Leger poll, 68 per cent of Albertans think the level of crime and violence in Alberta has gotten worse compared to pre-pandemic.

Edmonton Crime:

  • Edmonton police saw the highest number of violent crimes ever reported in a single year in 2022. Their data connects a rise in violence to changes made by the federal government to the bail system in 2019 under Bill C-75. In the past three years there have been more than 3,600 violent occurrences, including 2,200 assaults, by people who were out on bail in Edmonton.
  • In 2022, Edmonton’s violent crime rate (per 100,000) saw a 16.5 per cent spike, or an additional 201 incidents.  
  • The average crime severity index in downtown Edmonton has increased 29 per cent to 116 in December 2022, up from 90 in July 2022. This has been driven primarily by an increase in serious criminal offences, in particular second-degree murder, assault causing bodily harm with a weapon, robbery, and aggravated assault.
  • In Edmonton, a person is about twice as likely to be victimized by a stranger at a transit centre compared with the city as a whole (70 per cent at LRT transit versus 36 per cent citywide).
  • In the last two years, 26 homicides were committed by criminals out on bail.

Calgary Crime:

  • Property crime occurrences in Calgary nearly doubled, increasing 95 per cent to 463 in 2022, up from 238 in 2021.
  • Total calls for service to Calgary LRT stations increased to 9,317 in 2022, up 39 per cent from 6,706 in 2021.
    • Public-generated calls for service to LRT stations increased to 5,012 in 2022, up 20 per cent from 4,160 in 2021.
    • Officer-generated calls for service to LRT stations increased to 4,305, up 69 per cent from 2,546 in 2021.
  • In 2021, 2022, and 2023 (year to date) 23 of 45 individuals charged with homicide were on bail. Seven of those were bound by firearms prohibitions and two had recently completed parole conditions and were no longer bound.

The UCP’s Safe Streets Action Plan will enhance community safety, keep hard drugs and guns off the streets, and protect women and children facing abuse by: 

  • Adding 100 police officers to Edmonton and Calgary to address chronic and worsening crime issues, particularly in the downtown cores and on transit.
  • Extending the downtown sheriff redeployment pilot program until at least the end of 2023, and longer if necessary.
  • Expanding the use of Alberta sheriffs in the 24/7 bail monitoring process.
    • Using Alberta’s provincial sheriffs in the monitoring of higher risk offenders released on bail to provide increased protection for Albertans.
  • Initiating an ankle bracelet program for violent and/or sexual offenders on bail.
    • Establishing a 24/7 electronic monitoring program to help protect Albertans against possible violent reoffenders who are out on bail.
    • Providing further options for courts to impose electronic monitoring as a condition of bail.
  • Creating specialized sheriff-led anti-fentanyl and anti-gun trafficking teams.
  • Increasing funding for ALERT for suppressing gang violence.
    • Initiatives we would look to expand under ALERT include: 
      •    Provincial Cyber Crime Unit;
      •    Provincial DNA lab; and
      •    Increased monitoring of the gang connections to the skyrocketing rates of catalytic converter theft.
  • Informing Albertans that Clare’s Law enables them to learn whether their partner has any history of domestic assault or sex crimes.
    • Clare’s Law protocol allows Albertans to submit applications to obtain information regarding an intimate partner’s possible history of domestic and/or sexual violence victimizing partners or children.
    • This is an incredibly useful tool for at-risk Albertans. We will expand awareness of this program through a two-year advertising campaign.
  • Increasing support for the Internet and Child Exploitation (ICE) teams.
    • Funding an engagement team that could deliver education, presentations, and in-person door knocks on low-risk files.
  • Further investing in women’s shelters and sexual assault counselling/centres.
    • We will invest an additional $10 million (over four years) to support women’s shelters.
    • We will invest an additional $10 million (over four years) for sexual assault counselling.

This will build on past UCP crime-fighting measures, including:

  • Expanding powers for sheriffs to help combat crime in rural communities;
  • Deploying sheriffs to Edmonton and Calgary to help police in communities where additional policing is most needed;
  • Passing Clare’s Law, which allows people at risk of domestic violence to learn about their intimate partner’s criminal records;
  • Creating gang suppression units and firearms investigation units;
  • Passing legislation to prevent dangerous offenders and convicted sexual offenders from changing their names;
  • Creating a fugitive apprehension unit within the Alberta sheriffs;
  • Providing $21 million in funding to fight human trafficking; and
  • Announcing 100 more police officers to tackle crime.

Questions & Answers:

Calgary and Edmonton have seen rising levels of crime in their downtown cores and on public transit. How will today’s announcement help address this issue?
The most effective way to take back our streets is to get more boots on the ground and address the Liberal/NDP catch-and-release bail system. A re-elected UCP government will recruit and train 100 police officers in Calgary and Edmonton to address chronic and worsening crime issues. We will also extend the downtown Alberta Sheriff redeployment pilot program until the end of 2023, and beyond if necessary. The spending for this initiative was contained in Budget 2023.
 
A re-elected UCP government will also expand the use of Alberta Sheriffs in the 24/7 bail monitoring to monitor higher risk offenders released on bail to provide increased protection for Albertans. 
 
As bail falls under federal jurisdiction, what can a UCP government do?
Canadians across the country are fed up with dangerous criminals out on bail going on to commit even more serious crimes. As part of today’s announcement, a re-elected UCP government will continue working with our provincial counterparts, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, and others to demand immediate reform of the federal Liberal government’s catch-and-release, revolving-door bail system (C-75) that is plaguing our communities. 

The UCP will also add funds to an electronic ankle monitoring program announced in Budget 2023, with Sheriffs helping enforce it so we can reduce the likelihood these offenders on bail reoffend.
 
Is bail really a major factor in today’s crime rates?
Even one crime committed by somebody out on bail is unacceptable. Unfortunately, the numbers are much higher than that. 
 
In Calgary, 23 of 45 charged with homicide in 2021, 2022, and YTD 2023 (April 4), were on bail. Seven of those were bound by firearms prohibitions and two had recently completed parole conditions and were no longer bound. 
 
In Edmonton in the last two years, 26 homicides were committed by criminals out on bail.
 
What will the UCP do specifically to address the proliferation of illegal guns and the fentanyl crisis?
In addition to giving ALERT more funding, a re-elected UCP government will create Alberta sheriff-led teams to combat gun smuggling and fentanyl trafficking at the border. This initiative will cost $6 million over two years.
 
How will a re-elected UCP government further empower ALERT?
Created by Ralph Klein’s Conservative government in 2006, ALERT has proven very effective at combatting organized and serious crime. As part of today’s announcement, a re-elected UCP government will enhance ALERT’s abilities with additional funding beyond what is in the budget and the federal funds recently announced. 
 
We will also direct ALERT to monitor scrap metal dealers and the gang connections making catalytic converter thefts such a problem. 
 
How will the Act help Albertans to identify dangerous offenders?
 In 2019, the UCP government passed the Disclosure to Protect Against Domestic Violence Act (better known as Clare’s Law), which allows Albertans to submit applications to obtain information regarding an intimate partner’s possible history of domestic and/or sexual violence victimizing partners or children. This is an incredibly useful tool for at-risk Albertans, and a re-elected UCP government will expand awareness of the program through a two-year, $3-million advertising campaign.
 
What will the UCP do to better protect children?
Online child sexual exploitation is one of the most dangerous and disturbing public safety issues we face in Canada. We will increase support for the Internet and Child Exploitation (ICE) ($4 million over four years).

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