A call for a crackdown on knife offences
Posted Jun 27, 2011 2:37 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A member of the Calgary Police Commission is calling on the federal government to get tough on crime involving knives.
Ward 8 Alderman John Mar says he was shocked to hear about five attacks involving knives over the weekend.
Mar tells 660News there should be automatic jail sentences for offences involving knives, just like there is with guns.
“Absolutely we should be looking at mandatory sentences,” says Mar. “That has an impact and ensures that there is a period where this offender is not on our streets.”
“We need to get tough on crime, particularly violent crime using weapons,” Mar continues. “That doesn’t matter if it’s a club or a knife or what have you. Any time you’re bringing that deadly force or potentially deadly force to a conflict, it escalates the violence.”
Four of the five stabbing incidents happened overnight on Monday. Police say they were separate incidents in four different neighbourhoods and neither the victims nor witnesses are cooperating in their investigations.
Mar is urging people who are concerned about crimes involving knives to call their MPs and urge them to put the issue on the legislative table in the fall.
