Garry Breitkreuz, M.P.
Yorkton-Melville		 News Release

For Immediate Delivery

March 10, 1999

POLICE SAY, "PEOPLE ARE LOSING FAITH IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM"

"Hundreds of millions wasted on gun registration while gov’t cuts ravage real crime fighting initiatives."

Ottawa – Today in the House of Commons, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, went to bat for Saskatchewan police officers. "Government cuts are taking an awful toll on police morale and public confidence," said Breitkreuz. "According to Statistics Canada, the number of police officers per capita has been dropping for seven consecutive years. The police and the public have every right to be worried. I want to thank the police for coming to Ottawa to raise their concerns about public safety."

Here’s the verbatim transcript from today’s Hansard:

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I met with police officers from my home province of Saskatchewan. They were all members of the Canadian Police Association. They expressed many concerns to me; the most alarming of which was that they felt that people were losing faith in the criminal justice system. One of the reasons they cited was cutbacks in resources to fight real crime while hundreds of millions are being wasted on gun registration. 76% of CPA members in Saskatchewan voted against Bill C-68. Biker gangs, Native gangs and organized crime are moving into Saskatchewan. Drug trafficking is on the increase. They said people want to feel safe or they don’t want to be there. They said crimes are not going down, there’s just fewer police to detect them. They said people are so frustrated they aren’t bothering to report crimes anymore. When is this government going to start putting tax dollars where the police think they will do the most good?

These front-line officers also raised concerns about the $200 million needed to upgrade the 20-year-old computer technology in the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC). CPA President Grant Obst told the media that the gun registry is a mess and without the CPIC upgrades it will be all but worthless to police. Observed Breitkreuz, "The gun registry will be all but worthless to police, even with the CPIC upgrades. The CPA executive made a big political mistake back in 1995 when they supported Justice Minister Allan Rock, and the Liberal government’s fatally flawed gun registration scheme. If they had had the courage to let their front-line officers’ vote on this important issue, they wouldn’t be in this political jam today. Now that the government is robbing real crime fighting initiatives to pay for huge cost overruns in the gun registry, the Canadian Police Association should find out what their members really think, let them vote, and withdraw their support for the politically motivated gun registration program," recommended Breitkreuz. "Then there will be lots of money available to do what the police and the public really want."

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The Office of Garry Breitkreuz, M.P.

Yorkton: (306) 782-3309
Ottawa: (613) 992-4394