Legal Issues In Policing
Legal Issues in Policing (LIIP) is the podcast blending the demands of the book with the rulings from the bench through the lens of the badge. Police Officers with a solid understanding of the law and their legal powers are more confident, competent and effective. Each episode will examine a legal issue in policing by reviewing current Canadian criminal case law from coast to coast to coast.
Legal Issues In Policing
E135| Public safety, parole & the power of arrest.
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In this episode, Mike discusses the power to arrest, without warrant, an offender in breach of their conditional release — unescorted temporary absence, parole or statutory release — and how the authority under s. 137.1 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA) came to be.
CCRA definitions (s. 99(1)):
day parole means the authority granted to an offender by the Board or a provincial parole board to be at large during the offender’s sentence in order to prepare the offender for full parole or statutory release, the conditions of which require the offender to return to a penitentiary, community-based residential facility, provincial correctional facility or other location each night or at another specified interval.
full parole means the authority granted to an offender by the Board or a provincial parole board to be at large during the offender’s sentence.
statutory release means release from imprisonment subject to supervision before the expiration of an offender’s sentence, to which an offender is entitled under section 127.
unescorted temporary absence means an unescorted temporary absence from penitentiary authorized under section 116.
CCRA Arrest Authorities:
Arrest without warrant
137(2) A peace officer who believes on reasonable grounds that a warrant is in force under this Part or under the authority of a provincial parole board for the apprehension of a person may arrest the person without warrant and remand the person in custody.
Arrest without warrant — breach of conditions
137.1 A peace officer may arrest without warrant an offender who has committed a breach of a condition of their parole, statutory release or unescorted temporary absence, or whom the peace officer finds committing such a breach, unless the peace officer
(a) believes on reasonable grounds that the public interest may be satisfied without arresting the person, having regard to all the circumstances including the need to
(i) establish the identity of the person, or
(ii) prevent the continuation or repetition of the breach; and
(b) does not believe on reasonable grounds that the person will fail to report to their parole supervisor in order to be dealt with according to law if the peace officer does not arrest the person.
Additional References:
Arrest Without Warrant: Handbook for Front-line Peace Officers 2013
R. v. Loewen, 2018 SKCA 69 (lower court decision 2015 SKPC 12)
Video — Parole: Contributing to Public Safety
2023 Corrections and Conditional Release Statistical Overview (July 2025)
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