Province beefing up monitoring for high-risk suspects on bail, criminals serving community sentences

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This article was published 01/05/2023 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province has announced measures intended to keep a closer watch on suspects who are on bail or convicted criminals who are serving sentences in the community.

On Monday, Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen said the Manitoba government is working on a new electronic monitoring program for offenders who are deemed high-risk to public safety. The province has also pledged a new pilot program and more staff for monitoring.

A previous ankle-bracelet monitoring program was phased out by the Pallister government in 2017. Goertzen said a request for proposal process will be issued soon for an “improved and state-of-the-art” plan.

Electronic monitoring will help to reduce burdens on police and prevent crime, Goertzen said at a news conference outside the justice department’s Broadway offices in Winnipeg.

The justice minister, who is pushing for the federal government to reform bail, said the moves are meant to give community supports and supervision to people released while awaiting trial, as a means of lowering risk to public safety.

The issue of bail reform and the release of accused offenders has been prominent nationally in recent months, with the shooting death of an Ontario Provincial Police officer in December allegedly by an accused out on bail.

Locally, one of the accused in a Main Street stabbing attack in early February had been in court a day earlier, pleading guilty to an assault causing bodily harm, and had remained on bail ahead of sentencing.

“We know that coming out of changes in 2019, that there have been unintended consequences, but still consequences, of individuals who… were not appropriate for bail being released on bail, and then committing another violent crime,” Goertzen said.

He noted the federal government is reviewing the bail system, with possible amendments to come this year, after requests from provincial premiers.

“We cannot fail on bail reform, it has to happen,” Goertzen said. “But we have responsibility as well in the province of Manitoba.”

The Stefanson government said its decision to bring back an electronic monitoring program is based, in part, on recent improvements to technology.

Goertzen said a full-time psychologist and additional probation officers and community corrections workers will be assigned to the criminal organization high-risk offender unit, which monitors people that justice officials have deemed a high-risk to reoffend while on probation.

With extra staff, the probation program will provide supervision for up to 100 additional offenders — a doubling of the current capacity, Goertzen said.

The province is launching a pilot adult bail-management program this spring. The initiative will start in Winnipeg with 25 men and 25 women who have serious charges before the courts.

The minister did not give hard numbers for the cost of all the programs, but noted the electronic monitoring program will likely cost more than $500,000.

“None of this is free and none of this is cheap, but it’s not free when there’s crime in the community either,” Goertzen said, adding the province has also put money toward healing lodges and programming within provincial jails to help address issues such as addictions.

Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth, who joined Goertzen at the news conference, backed the measures.

Smyth, in his roles as WPS chief and head of the Association of Canadian Chiefs of Police, has been vocal regarding his concerns about people committing further offences while out on bail.

“We have seen big increases in crime, and one of the things that has been particularly alarming for me is the number of offenders who were on bail when they reoffended, so I think it’s something that we really need to pay some attention to,” Smyth said.

“These offenders do great harm to our community.”

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WPS provided data that showed three of the 53 homicides in Winnipeg in 2022 were allegedly committed by people out on bail, while 924 assaults were allegedly committed by offenders on bail, and 184 people were accused of robbery while on bail.

“These are kind of staggering numbers to us. It’s an indication, to me, that we need to make some changes to our bail systems and our probation systems,” Smyth said.

News of new hires in the corrections sector were met with skepticism by the NDP.

“Heather Stefanson (who was justice minister from 2016-18 and became premier in 2021) cut more than 160 positions in community and custody corrections — that is the record of the PC government since 2016… It’s clear the PC approach of cutting positions and then pretending to restore them in an election year is a failure and does nothing to improve community safety in our province,” justice critic Matt Wiebe said in a statement.

erik.pindera@winnipegfreepress.com

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.