City administration is weighing the options of how to best add resources to the local Crown Prosecutor’s office, which is reportedly one of the busiest in the province in terms of case load per prosecutor.
Since 1994 Grande Prairie’s population has more than doubled in size from 31,140 to 68,556 people, however in that time only two new lawyers have been added to the Crown Prosecutor’s office, bringing the total number to 6.
“We have some concern that the Crown Prosecutor’s office hasn’t been able to keep up with growth in the community over the last 20 years and we’d like to see that capacity increase. What we’re going to do is reach out to the province, find out what their plans are in regards to crown prosecution in the area, and voice any concerns the city may have.”
Administration has come up with three options for the city, one of which is advocating to the province, and Enforcement Services Manager Chris Manuel says their first step is to actually contact the Ministry of Justice to discuss their concerns about under staffing.
“Aside from advocation, there’s always options on the table to increase capacity using our own resources. Although that wouldn’t be the desired outcome at this point, there is some possibility to either do a partnership or to fully fund a provincial position.”
Manuel says it would cost somewhere in the area of $240,000 a year to fully fund a provincial crown prosecutor position, but that it would be unprecedented for a municipality to take that step.