Alberta’s domestic violence offender tracking promise lagging

The Alberta government is lagging on a campaign promise to invest money in electronic monitoring of domestic violence offenders.

The UCP’s 2019 campaign platform said a United Conservative government led by Jason Kenney would invest up to $2 million to expand the technology to prevent offenders serving community sentences from having contact with victims.

“It would be immensely cost-saving and maybe even cost recuperating if governments invested in electric monitoring for offenders or people who are suspected or just being charged,” said Mount Royal University criminologist Scharie Tavcer.

Tavcer says programs like these often get ut on the backburner. However, what governments fail to realize, she notes, is the trickling effect of violence on the community.

“It affects people’s ability to work, it affects children and families, and then children needing intervention. It’s affects schooling, it affects employment — the list goes on,” she added.

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Justice ministry spokesperson Katherine Thompson says work is ongoing to fulfill the commitment and it will be funded in future years.

Advocates for electronic monitoring say the longer the funding is delayed, the more victims of intimate partner violence will suffer.

Quebec has committed $41 million to an electronic bracelet program to ensure offenders comply with release conditions.

The devices typically consist of an ankle bracelet worn by the offender and another device in the victim’s possession. Authorities are alerted when the two come too close.

Prince Edward Island has had a similar program in place for more than five years and its monitors have been used in 155 cases.

That province says victims report feeling safer.