The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Attorney General Gord Mackintosh announced yesterday that Manitoba will lead a national call for new protections for police and will introduce new legislation to facilitate policing across provincial boundaries. "Police officers are the sentinels of our justice system," said Mackintosh. "We need to ensure they are provided the necessary protections to do a job that is essential to public safety. We must turn up the volume of the Criminal Code to send a strong deterrent message that Canadians stand behind their law enforcement officers." In response to requests from Canada's policing community, Manitoba is pursuing two important initiatives: Tougher Sentences for Offences against Peace Officers Ð Manitoba will urge the federal government to introduce: 1. a doubling to 10 years of the maximum sentences for assaulting and disarming a peace officer, and an increase in the sentence for obstructing a peace officer from two years to five years; 2. the elimination of any chance of parole for the murder of a peace officer, as Manitoba has demanded in the past; and 3. a new mandatory minimum sentence for assaulting a peace officer where the assault causes serious bodily harm or a weapon was used. Strengthening Cross Border Policing Ð Manitoba will introduce legislation to simplify how police officers obtain police status when pursuing investigations across provincial boundaries. Legislation to this effect has been drafted by the Uniform Law Conference and Manitoba will urge all provinces to adopt this legislation at the meeting of Canada's justice ministers in LaMalbaie, Que., from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1. "Strengthening cross border policing is especially important when investigating organized crime," said Mackintosh. "Crime does not stop at provincial boundaries and neither should police."9/26/2003
