Fri, August 20, 2004
THE CANADIAN Professional Police Association wants a review of prison and parole systems so that cop killers and other dangerous cons are kept behind bars much longer, spokesman Sophie Rioux said yesterday. "It definitely seems that killers and other violent offenders are not doing the time they should be doing," Rioux said.
"For us, the recent cases highlight a systemic problem."
The CPPA yesterday told federal Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Anne McLellan that prisons will top the agenda when she addresses the annual meeting in Saint John on Aug. 27.
Rioux said the "Club Fed" treatment of violent criminals is one of the biggest issues facing cops today.
Jamie Munro, 45, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years in 1981 after he was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Toronto Police Const. Michael Sweet.
USED AS A HOSTAGE
Evidence shows the Munro brothers used the fatally wounded Sweet as a hostage during a 90-minute standoff after a botched robbery at a downtown Toronto nightclub.
Munro's brother, Craig, 52, is still serving a life sentence for a first-degree murder conviction in Sweet's death.
Munro was allowed to say goodbye to parole when he emigrated to Italy in 1994. The National Parole Board (NPB) said Munro could not return to Canada without its permission.
But last month a NPB panel reviewing Munro's bid to visit his ailing mom in Canada said it could not prevent his return.
Jeffrey Breese, 40, was sentenced to life in prison with no parole in 1982 for the slaying of OPP Const. Rick Hopkin in Arthur, north of Kitchener.
Breese, who married convicted killer Adele Gruenke, 37, was freed from prison two months ago and is at a Kitchener halfway house visiting his sick dad at Mount Forest hospital.
Breese will appear in Guelph court on Sept. 7 in a bid to get early parole under the faint-hope clause legislation of Section 745 of the Criminal Code.
Hopkin's adult children, who live in Mount Forest, were not told that Breese was coming to town.
The CPPA is also upset that Clinton Suzack, 38, who is serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years in the slaying of Sudbury Const. Joe MacDonald, was transferred to a minimum-security camp seven years after his conviction.