Persons charged with a crime but released on bail until their scheduled court appearance, are often released on conditions that must be followed, ranging from geographical boundaries to abstinence from alcohol, drugs, and/or possession of a cell phone, to the company they keep, house arrest or curfews.
The CAT team is made up of Edmonton Police Service (EPS) patrol officers, Probation and Parole, as well as specialized detectives from the EPS Behavioral Assessment Unit and Targeted Offender Section. The additional resources focus solely on confirming each individual is abiding by their own condition orders.
“EPS officers carry out condition checks on a daily basis, year-round,” said Acting Sgt. Rhonda Daub, of Downtown Division. “If conditions have been placed on a person while awaiting trial, or when they are released on parole, we check to ensure their specific conditions are being followed.”
If someone is not where they are supposed to be or are breaking any of their conditions, they can be taken into custody and have their release revoked.
“Anyone with release conditions can expect police to be monitoring their whereabouts and behaviour more than usual over the next week,” said Daub.
CAT is part of the ongoing EPS Violence Reduction Strategy, which brings an increase of police and other resources together to reduce crime and victimization. CAT deployments are highly visible and mobile, and have been successful in quickly addressing a wide range of criminal and social issues since September of 2011.
For more information about the EPS Violence Reduction Strategy, please visit www.edmontonpolice.ca/vrs.