The province introduced the Public's Right to Know Act (Bill 9) on March 22 which, if passed, would require the government to publicly report crime-related information at regular intervals, according to Justice Minister and Solicitor General Tyler Shandro's office.
In theory, it makes sense, especially given that small communities across Alberta are policed by the RCMP which, of late, hasn't been great at getting information out to Albertans.
St. Albert's detachment, for example, doesn't currently have the funding to employ an analyst, which means quarterly reports contain fewer stats and more anecdotal information. This is problematic, as several organizations depend on data to drive support in the community, such as statistics on domestic violence and sexual assault, which can highlight areas that require extra programming or specific grant funding.
Also problematic is the RCMP's decision years ago to put their radio frequency behind the wall, meaning media can't monitor scanners for criminal activity in communities. This means media is forced to rely more heavily on the RCMP to release information on crimes, rather than report directly on what is happening as it happens.
Press releases are often spotty, infrequent, come long after a crime has been committed, and show selectivity in releasing only information about collisions that have closed roads, crimes RCMP need the public's help with, major drug busts involving multiple departments, or petty thefts.
We're not getting a full picture, which doesn't serve residents.
St. Albertans have a right to know what is going on in our city, and the hope is that Bill 9 will directly address that.
But a couple of local organizations say they aren't sold on Bill 9 yet, as there are concerns generalized data with a lack of detail won't give residents or the organizations that support them a better picture of the kinds of challenges St. Albert faces.
“I think everybody has the right to know crime statistics. It's just whether [the province is] going to be sharing anything different, or anything more pertinent to Alberta than what we already see in the Statistics Canada data. If that's not the case, then the legislation is meaningless,” said Areni Kelleppan, executive director of Stop Abuse in Families, in today's Gazette story on Bill 9.
Brian Anderson, president of the St. Albert Citizen's Patrol Society, echoed Kelleppan's concerns, saying a lack of detail is likely to render any data the province offers as useless.
"I don't suspect those crime stats will tell you that a certain block or a certain corner of, let's say, Grandin is suffering from domestic violence, because they want to protect some of the privacy concerns of the citizens in those areas," he said in an interview with The Gazette.
Joseph Dow, Shandro's press secretary, offered little more in the way of what, or how, or what kind, or how often data would be released from the province, as much of this is still to be determined.
Dow did say the province will likely start reporting annually this fall, primarily using police-reported crime data in the beginning, with metrics "which will be expanded over time," through "information-sharing agreements that this legislation would enable."
Bill 9 must include data specific to each community, that is reported continually, not annually, or it will fall short of what communities need. Albertans need better access to information to improve public safety, not another empty government promise.
Editorials are the consensus view of the St. Albert Gazette’s editorial board.
