The National Police Federation is pleased to see the Liberal government table a new crime bill aimed at restricting access to bail and tougher sentences.
The bill would impose a reverse onus on bail for certain offences and would also allow for consecutive sentences for violent and repeat offenders.
President Brian Sauve was also pleased to see that Ottawa listened to its request of hiring 1,000 more RCMP personnel.
“That was something that we had asked for last year in August during our federal budget submission under the Trudeau government and we were happy to see a party picked it up in their campaign and now they happen to be the governing party and is on the platform they are running on.”
Raising the RCMP cadet recruitment allowance to $1,000 per week was also a major plus.
“It has been $525 a week for 18 years. Again, I am happy to see that something we had asked for the last three years and I know the RCMP asked for it in the last year or so and the government seems to be a competitive employer in this landscape.”
“Hopefully, the police association and police chiefs will have the opportunity to have input, making it an even stronger legislation down the road when it does get passed, if it gets passed,” added Sauve.
The legislation proposes changes to the Youth Criminal Justice Act, which would allow police to publish identifying information about a person under the age of 18 when there is an imminent danger to public safety.
In Budget 2025, which is set to tabled November 4th, the government will invest $1.8 billion over four years to increase federal policing capacity to combat crime – including online fraud, money laundering, online child sexual exploitation, and organised criminal networks.
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