88 offenders arrested in joint operation with Alberta Sheriffs, EPS, RCMP

Dozens of the most wanted criminals in the Edmonton area were arrested during a joint operation between law enforcement agencies.

Nearly 90 priority offenders were arrested in the province over four days in part of a joint operation between RCMP, Alberta Sheriffs and the Edmonton Police Service (EPS).

Supt. Mike McCauley of the Alberta RCMP Crime Reduction Strategy, said the operation was a result of cross-province crime data shared among police agencies.

“All police services in the province began sharing crime data with RCMP, who then translate and disseminate the data and prioritize offender rankings to all police agencies in Alberta,” said McCauley at a press conference Wednesday.

“This cross-sharing of information allows us to maintain a province-wide priority offender list that is not bound by jurisdiction.”

Between April 20 and 24, the three agencies arrested 88 offenders across Alberta with active warrants for criminal activity ranging from possession of stolen property to aggravated assault and extortion with a firearm.

Mounties say that combined, the harm caused by these offenders was the same total amount of harm caused by all the crime in a community the size of Devon or Morinville over an 18-month period.

Between April 7 and May 4, a total of 2,528 warrants were executed by RCMP, EPS and Alberta Sheriffs, representing 11 per cent of all warrants held across the three agencies.

McCauley said Mounties try to conduct joint operations once or twice a year.

“The crime fighters that were doing this work would do it every week if they could, because they really get a lot out of it,” said the superintendent. “Unfortunately, we don’t have unlimited resources, so I personally will commit RCMP to do it at least once a year, and we usually try and push for twice.

“We won’t stop doing it.”