Crime: Find out where parties stand before Alberta votes

Pledging to be tough on crime is an old standard in the election songbook. As Alberta's largest cities grapple with what police describe as an upswing in violent crime, the provincial government has repeatedly stepped in with measures that at least some municipal leaders feel are an overstep. 

Worry about safety on transit and in other public spaces has fuelled calls for an increase in police funding and resources from some quarters, while others insist that we can't talk about crime without talking about social issues. 

Critics of a "more boots on the ground" approach to crime cite a lack of affordable housing and lack of meaningful support for people dealing with addictions and mental health issues as the real keys to tackling violence and disorder.

Throw in an ongoing and so far unpopular proposal to replace RCMP with a provincial police force, evergreen worries about a lack of resources to respond to rural crime and heated debates about police funding – and the issue becomes even thornier. 

Parties hoping to win over Albertans will have to balance demands for increased community safety with greater public awareness about the role social issues play in crime. 

— Analysis from Paige Parsons, CBC News

Below is a snapshot of party announcements on crime in recent weeks. The parties included are those that have previously elected an MLA or had 44 registered candidates by nomination day on May 11.

— Party announcements compiled by Kelsea Arnett, CBC News

Alberta Liberal Party

• Increase support for community watch groups and funding allowances for religious and ethnic groups to protect their facilities and population.
• Spend $600 million more in mental health and addictions.
• Create a $100 refundable tax credit for home security systems.
• Tackle root causes of crime, including poverty, mental health and addictions.
• Establish a task force to consider strategies for reducing court wait times, including standardizing case management procedures, encouraging alternative dispute resolution, hiring more clerks and urging the federal government to appoint more Queen's (King's) Bench and Appellate Justices. 
• Committed to maintaining drug and addiction courts and implementing mental health programs to better deal with persons suffering mental health issues that require Court intervention. 
• Spend $5 million for the regional Victims of Crime fund.
• Family law reforms including:
  • Creating an informal family case management system to reduce the need for costly and emotionally-draining trials. 
  • Creating a unified family court.
  • Establishing an Access Program Coordinator position within the Justice and Solicitor General ministry to enforce child custody and access orders.
  • Oppose replacing the RCMP.
  • Oppose changes to the tort system that would eliminate or reduce victims' rights to pursue claims when injured in motor vehicle accidents. 
• Source.

Alberta New Democratic Party

• Restore municipal police funding and invest in integrated teams to make urban transit safe while addressing poverty, homelessness, mental health and addictions.
• Address root causes of social disorder by ensuring properly funded police forces are working together as a team with community and social service providers, specifically in the downtown cores of Calgary and Edmonton.
• Greater access to affordable housing, adequate emergency shelter space and spaces with addiction and mental health services.
• Work with municipalities to hire 150 police officers in Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Red Deer, St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Spruce Grove, Fort McMurray and elsewhere; and pair these officers with 150 social workers, mental health workers, addictions counsellors and community outreach workers as a part of integrated teams.
• Restore $32 million in municipal police funding.
• Direct resources to current teams, like 911/211 co-location.
• Indigenous teams and culturally appropriate and trauma informed outreach (DOAP in Calgary and COTT in Edmonton).
• Support civilian oversight and community liaisons to ensure good metrics, reporting and community involvement.
• Support and grow partnerships with ethnic and multicultural communities and social welfare providers.
• Provide wrap-around supports and support community agencies on areas such as health, mental health, housing, harm reduction, addictions treatment and access to training and employment.
  • According to the Homeless Hub, wrap-around supports include a team of professionals working with family members to deliver specific support for the affected individual. These professionals could include educators or mental health workers.
• Keep the RCMP and invest in specialized Rural Crime Reduction Units with an initial $10 million to fulfil this commitment.
• Hire more probation officers and fund more post-release programs.
• Establish long-term agreements with municipalities to support stable and predictable police funding, integrated police-community service teams, Indigenous partnerships and provincial accountability for services such as affordable housing.
• Establish a Hate Crimes Unit and community liaison programs.
• Source.

Alberta Party

• Increase community policing.
• Improve access to mental health and addiction services.
• Invest in youth programs and education.
• The Alberta Party would keep the RCMP in Alberta.
• Increase police presence and response times.
• Promote community-based crime prevention programs.
• Invest in surveillance technology and equipment.
• Source.
• Support the following legislation: 
  • Working collaboratively with the federal government and Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) to address local needs and staffing shortages in smaller communities and a balanced cost model.
  • Improving capacity of RCMP, sheriffs and local police departments to constructively work with diverse communities.
  • Including built-in capability of live first point of contact mediation and support (e.g., ride along social workers in high risk areas and/or enhanced training for police officers) especially in known areas/regions with high addiction and mental health incidences.
  • Establishing a premier's commission on domestic violence and improving data collection about domestic abuse and human trafficking.
  • Supporting an Indigenous-led review of over-representation of Indigenous peoples in the justice system, and under-representation in education, advanced education, employment, and community funding.
  • Partnering social services (AHS, community health, non-profits) with police agencies (RCMP, Metro Police, Indigenous) to better address root causes behind crime and thereby support prevention. (e.g. addictions, opioids, and mental health). Source.
• Justice policy will:
  • Provide Legal Aid Alberta with stable and predictable funding while keeping it independent from government.
  • Work with the Government of Canada to create and fill more judicial positions at the Court of Queen's (King's) Bench.
  • Assess Alberta's courtroom infrastructure and staffing levels to identify areas of need and take action to remedy them.
  • Instruct the minister of justice and solicitor general – in consort with the Law Society of Alberta, the Provincial Court Judges Association and other interested stakeholders – to examine the current state of access to justice by all, including the poor, Indigenous, immigrant and other disadvantaged segments, and provide recommendations to improve the situation.
  • May include initiatives such as legal insurance (to cover  cost of access to legal support), alternate dispute resolution, methods of restorative justice and the like.
  • Source.

United Conservative Party of Alberta

• Safe Streets Action Plan, which will utilize 24/7 ankle bracelet monitoring for dangerous (violent and sexual) offenders out on bail and deploy sheriffs to monitor them.
• Provide further options for courts to impose electronic monitoring as a condition of bail.
• Add 100 police officers to Edmonton and Calgary to address chronic and worsening crime issues, particularly in the downtown core and on transit.
• Extend downtown sheriff redeployment program until at least the end of 2023.
• Expand use of sheriffs in the 24/7 bail monitoring process (monitor high risk offenders released on bail).
• Anti-fentanyl and illegal gun trafficking teams to target smugglers bringing deadly drugs and illegal weapons to Alberta.
• Alberta sheriff-led teams to combat gun smuggling and fentanyl trafficking at the border, costing $6 million over two years.
• Increase funding for Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) to target and suppress gang violence, expand provincial Cyber Crime Unit and Provincial DNA Lab, and increase monitoring of scrap metal dealers and gang connections to reduce catalytic converter theft.
• Make it easier for people to know the whereabouts of violent and sexual offenders.
• Invest 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.
• Inform Albertans that Clare's Law enables them to learn whether their partner has any history of domestic assault or sex crimes through a two-year, $3 million advertising campaign.
• Increase support for Internet and Child Exploitation (ICE) teams through funding an engagement team that could deliver education, presentations and in-person door knocks on low-risk files ($4 million over four years). Source: https://www.unitedconservative.ca/annoucement/safe-streets-action-plan/ 
• Will build over 700 new publicly funded addiction treatment beds across 11 new treatment centres called recovery communities. Four of these new recovery communities will be built in partnership with First Nations including the Kainai Nation, the Enoch Cree Nation, the Siksika Nation, and the Tsuut'ina Nation.
• Build five new 75-bed mental wellness centres. These new centres will add a total of 375 inpatient mental health beds across the province.
• Develop and pass the Compassionate Intervention Act, allowing a family member, doctor, psychologist or police officer to petition a non-criminal judge to issue a treatment order. Source.