MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - Mountain View County and area residents can help address crime issues and assist Crown prosecutors by supporting and maintaining good communications with area RCMP detachments, officials told council.
A delegation of two Crown prosecutors – Camelia Wong, with the pre-charge assessment unit, and Patrick Bigg, assistant deputy chief Crown prosecutor – appeared before council at the Aug. 13 council meeting.
The county had requested the delegation to receive information on how the municipality might contribute to crime reduction in the district.
During the delegation appearance, reeve Angela Aalbers asked the prosecutors what can be done.
“How can the municipality work better with your office to try and minimize or support in the reduction in rural crime, specifically on the catch-and-release?” said Aalbers. “Is there anything our municipality can do better, do more of, or start doing to support the Crown prosecutors office?
“Anything you can provide direction on we would love to do, love to pursue.”
Bigg replied, “From the Crown’s perspective, the police have a very difficulty job and they do a great job, but it is made more difficult by people that are uncooperative with the system and quite frankly it is every citizen’s civic duty to be a part of the criminal justice system to make sure that we are a community that is safe for everyone.”
Wong added, “The police investigation is likely the most important piece of the entire process and is time sensitive too. So if we can all better support that then the outcome would be we have viable criminal prosecutions and the community ends up being safer. I think the important thing is to support the police.”
Didsbury RCMP detachment commander Staff Sgt. Stephen Browne and Sundre RCMP detachment commander Sgt. Courtney Harding also attended the Aug. 13 council meeting.
During the delegation appearance, Wong and Bigg outlined details of the recently adopted pre-charge assessment system (PCA) now in use by prosecutors in the province.
Under the system, prosecutors are able to identify criminal files that do not meet the prosecutor standard before charges are laid, saving time and money and strengthening criminal prosecutions where charges are laid.
There are currently seven full-time PCA prosecutors, who review files and make charge recommendations based on the prosecution standards of reasonable likelihood of conviction and public interest.
Coun. Peggy Johnson asked the prosecutors how they measure ‘public interest’ as part of the PCA system.
Wong replied, “It is fairly difficult to articulate exactly the list of factors we can consider as far as public interest is concerned. We do have a protocol for that and there are many, many things. Things like what was the nature of the crime, the prevalence of that crime in the community, how serious it is, the circumstances of the accused, how vulnerable the victim is. That’s just a few of them.”
Bigg added, “It is somewhat of a fluid concept. The justice system is flexible in allowing for issues of the day to be prosecuted. We talk about the prevalence of the crime, and in particular rural crime.
“It’s difficult to neatly put into a box, but I can tell you there are lots of different factors that come into play.”
Coun. Jennifer Lutz said offences committed by repeat offenders are of particular concern to her constituents.
Wong said, “When we get files that come in through (PCA unit), when we have those early ongoing dialogues with the RCMP we do know who some of these individuals are, we recognize their names. In that sense, we are able to assess them with those concerns in mind.”
Staff Sgt. Browne said, “We have a number of repeat offenders that constantly cause us issues, and yes, our numbers do drop when those offenders are incarcerated. The issue becomes how long they are incarcerated for.”
Reeve Albers asked the prosecutors, “Is the justice system harder on repeat offenders? Do they get treated harsher in the system?”
Bigg replied, “Yes, absolutely. Whenever an investigation comes to our office, we rely on a number of resources to make our decisions, including criminal records, outstanding charges. All of those things are considered by us in making decisions.
“There are a number of principles under sentencing that we apply as a prosecution service to ensure that there is still a swift retributive act but it’s reasoned and measured and we use principles of restraint to allow for an appropriate sentence, but typically it is aggravating if they are repeating.”
Staff Sgt. Browne says he is in support of the PCA system.
“I’ve always been in supporter of pre-charge back to its early piloting stages and the benefits that it brings not only to the enhancing of the criminal investigations that we put forth to the Crown, but it also addresses the timelines that we have to abide by that often are missed simply due to resourcing issues,” Browne said.
“As a contributing factor to improving the system, PCA has certainly been a benefit.”
Sgt. Harding said she also supports the PCA system.
“Certainly here at the Sundre detachment, pre-charge approval and that process has definitely been beneficial to us, especially in regard to having that early feedback from the Crown’s office and in regards to any investigational or supervisory gaps,” Harding said.
Mountain View County council had requested a delegation from Crown prosecutors office following a forum at the 2025 Rural Municipalities of Alberta conference.
In a letter sent to Minister of Justice Mickey Amery in April, reeve Aalbers said the county wants to receive input on how it could help reduce rural crime in the municipality.
“We heard from you at the forum that you recommend rural councils form relationships with Crown prosecutors to able a more prominent role in reducing or addressing the ‘catch and release’ issue that is currently creating real safety concerns for our residents,” said Aalbers.
“Mountain View County supports action that will ensure local interests are adequately represented in the criminal justice system.”
Council accepted the delegation presentation as information.
