Calgary’s police service recently released information confirming what many of us had already assumed — the incident leading to the death of Angela McKenzie was not a road rage incident as initially reported..The mother of five was killed due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time while a gangster was chasing another vehicle and firing upon it.. Angela McKenzie .The other development surprising nobody is the prime suspect in the killing of this woman was a criminal well known to police. In fact, he had been charged with no fewer than six attempted murders only a few years ago..Talal Amer was charged with a number of crimes related to acting within a criminal organization along with his string of attempted murders. He was sentenced to seven and-a-half years in May of 2019. With time served, he was supposed to serve three more years. Clearly he was released since, and now it cost the life of an innocent woman..The gang war of 2015 in Calgary led to more than 200 shootings. Talal, his brother Barakat and two cousins, Badar and Abdul were all listed as “high level” gang participants at the time. We still couldn’t keep them behind bars though, apparently, we had a pretty good idea who they were and the crimes they were prone to committing..Calgary has witnessed more than 50 shooting incidents this year and 12 homicides. I wonder how long it will take before authorities publicly admit we are in the midst of another gang war?.The police can’t be faulted here. They have no control over the sentencing. Our system is broken when it comes to imposing harsh sentences upon violent criminals and the consequences are dire. What sort of judge in their right mind would think a man capable of many attempted murders would be safe in society after only a few years in jail? .It’s not just gangland thugs killing innocent people. We have been releasing violent sex offenders into the general public and it has cost lives as well..Last September in Hinton Alta., the bodies of Mchale Busch and her 16-month-old son Noah were found. They were murdered and there were acts of sexual assault and things done to them that I just won’t go into here. It was a crime of the most horrific nature.. Mchale and Cody Busch .Robert Keith Major pled guilty to the crime. Major is a known violent sex offender. The last time he was released into the public, Edmonton police release a warning stating: “Robert Keith Major is a convicted sexual offender and the Edmonton Police Service has reasonable grounds to believe he will commit another sexual offence against a female, including children, while in the community.”.The police were correct and two lives have been lost as a result..Major had been in custody, he had a record of doing these actions, authorities were confident he would re-offend, yet he was let loose into the community anyway. .Clearly Major’s past crimes and his behaviour while within prison indicated he was a danger to the public. We do have a dangerous offender designation that can be applied to some criminals in order to extend sentences but what the hell does it take to achieve such a status?.Last April, 23-year-old mother Jamie Lynn Scheible was murdered in Calgary. Thirty-seven-year-old Gerald Russell Frommelt was charged in the murder. He has been in and out of prison his entire life for violent crimes. At his age, it's likely Frommelt will still be young enough to kill again whenever he is released. Full disclosure, Jamie Schieble was a cousin of my first son through his mother's side of the family. . Jamie Lynn Scheible .Is it really that hard to determine the dangerous offenders from the non-violent ones? I understand corrections services are overwhelmed at times — as are our courts — but does that make it impossible to prioritize? I don’t care if shoplifters and online fraudsters get released early if it means we can keep known violent offenders in longer..Reforming criminals should be a goal and second chances are important for offenders. It really depends on the offense though. Some offenses are just too heinous, and people demonstrate themselves to be too dangerous to give the benefit of the doubt..What will it take to get serious with sentences for dangerous offenders in Canada?.If I had a dog with a propensity for attacking people and I let it loose in a playground, I would be charged for putting the children at harm. Perhaps it’s time to hold the people who let these prisoners out accountable. Who's sitting on these parole boards and deciding to release these people into the public? How often are judges called out for light sentences with repeat, violent offenders?.There is only so much a society can do to prevent crimes. Sometimes people simply snap and it leads to terrible outcomes..There is no reason we should keep hearing about violent re-offenders though. We have caught them before, we know their propensities, we should lock them up and throw away the key..The protection of the innocent public has to take priority over the reformation of high-risk, known violent criminals. .In the last year we have lost three young mothers to known dangerous offenders in Alberta. We can't continue to accept this.
