As the OPSEU strike nears the two month mark, the union representing provincial employees has issued a warning about unsupervised convicts posing a clear and present danger.
The union advises public safety is being compromised with more than 900 convicted criminals wandering city streets unsupervised by probation and parole officers who have been off the job since OPSEU launched its job action against the Conservative government.
According to OPSEU, the roster of convicted criminals includes sex offenders, child molesters, stalkers, drug dealers, fraud artists and thieves. Probation and parole officers are responsible for the supervision of community dispositions and the monitoring of criminal offenders released into the community.
The union says the continued unwillingness of the provincial government to offer a fair settlement is keeping the workers off the job and unsupervised criminals on the streets.
?If these criminals get any level of supervision it is minimal at best,? says Richard Larcher, probation and parole officer for the Ministry of Public Safety and Security in Sudbury.
?We?re seeing situations where these people are reoffending. In some cases, the crime could have (been) avoided if the perpetrator could have received appropriate counseling.?
Services limited or lost during the strike include; monitoring of sex offenders and other high-risk offenders, counseling for pedophile and high-risk offenders, monitoring to ensure orders for counseling are being met, confidential interviews, referrals for special psychiatric and medical assessments, contacting of victims and families to ensure notification of offender?s release and transferring of information to police.
?The citizens of Sudbury should know that convicted criminals are happily roaming our streets knowing they are accountable to no one as to their whereabouts and activities,? he said.
The number of local parolees and probationers grows. It is estimated 50 to 60 new cases have been added to probation and parole lists since the March 13 job action.
