Alberta election: UCP promises plan to monitor offenders on bail

The UCP is vowing to get tough on crime as part of their campaign platform.

The party unveiled their Safe Streets Action Plan Tuesday.

If the UCP is re-elected on May 29, it says the program would see dangerous offenders out on bail wearing ankle bracelets that would be monitored by sheriffs.

The party would also add 100 patrol officers to the streets.

More money was also promised to tackle illegal guns, fentanyl, child exploitation and gangs.

Leader Danielle Smith added the UCP would provide more funding for women’s shelters and sexual assault counselling.

UCP leader Danielle Smith announces 'Safe Streets Action plan', including:

– ankle bracelet monitoring for dangerous offenders out on bail, monitored by sheriffs
– 100 more patrol officers
– anti gun and anti fentanyl tracking teams
– $$$ for child exploitation and gang teams pic.twitter.com/av9DRmwy2o

— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) May 9, 2023

Mike Ellis, the UCP candidate of Calgary West, says the new anti-fentanyl team led by the Alberta Sheriffs would stop drugs from crossing the United States border into the province.

Ellis, who is the Alberta minister of public safety, says an anti-gun trafficking team would work to stop illegal guns from making their way into the hands of criminals.

“The Liberal-NDP soft-on-crime approach is costing lives and Albertans and all Canadians deserve better,” Smith said Tuesday.

The UCP announcement comes after a mother and her child were killed in what police say was a random attack outside an Edmonton school on Friday.

Police have said the suspect in the killing has mental-health issues and was charged multiple times over the last decade with assaulting minors.

WATCH: Deadly stabbing of mother and child in Edmonton ‘completely random’: Police

Smith said the plan and increased funding would make it easier for parents to know the whereabouts of violent and sexual offenders.

The UCP argues it’s more important than ever to stand up for policing organizations.

“This villainization is unacceptable – Albertans know it and the UCP knows it,” said Ellis. “Especially at a time of increased social disorder in our communities. That’s why I’m concerned about the number of ‘defund the police’ candidates in this election.”

Irfan Sabir, Alberta NDP justice critic, said the UCP has failed to ensure public safety for four years.

“The UCP took funding for police away from municipalities in 2019, withheld resources from victims of crime, and refused to fully fund women’s shelters,” Sabir said Tuesday.

He said Albertans should have “zero confidence in Danielle Smith’s last-minute pre-election reversals.”

The Alberta NDP previously unveiled their public safety plan, which would in part see the province hire 150 new police officers. Those officers would be paired with 150 social workers to form integrated teams.

—With files from The Canadian Press