Whereas communities across British Columbia are facing unprecedented costs and public safety impacts caused by the revolving door of prolific offenders being released into communities; And whereas senior levels of government have not taken adequate steps to protect communities from prolific offenders that have been released or are out on bail: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM advocate to the Attorneys General for Canada and British Columbia to address the severe impacts that local governments across British Columbia are experiencing with prolific offenders being frequently released and re-released into local communities, including: - supporting the widespread use of GPS monitoring of prolific offenders out on bail; - seeking guidance from senior levels of government on how local governments can effectively communicate the communitys concerns to courts considering bail and sentencing of prolific offenders; and - communicating to senior levels of government that local jurisdictions cannot afford to allocate taxpayer dollars to fund the increased policing and community costs resulting from the revolving door of repeat prolific offenders being released into communities; And be it further resolved that federal and provincial governments work with UBCM and BC local governments to review and support options to exempt local governments for the full public safety costs resulting from and associated with Crown Counsels decisions to continually release repeat prolific offenders into BC communities.
