00:00According to Sergeant Ford, the Homeland Security Minister has the authority to issue preventative detention orders targeting individuals linked by credible intelligence to serious criminal activities, including gangs, firearms and drugs.
00:18He explains these orders aim to protect public safety by detaining suspects at designated locations. Those detained have the legal right to know why and to access legal counsel, but not necessarily to bail.
00:34Depending on the reason for that person's detention, the process for bail is there to be exercised. Generally, however, persons who are detained are not automatically granted bail, yes, under the Emergency Powers Regulation.
00:59Sergeant Ford warns that without exception, anyone caught aiding detainees to escape faces serious criminal charges.
01:09If somebody escapes having been detained and placed at a designated place of detention, and you escape, you are committing an offence.
01:21If other persons assist that person who is detained to escape, they are also committing a serious offence, yes, and I will speak to the penalty later on.
01:34Or anybody who harbors, who offers some protection for a detainee who has escaped, knowing that that person has escaped is also committing an offence.
01:54He says those who assist escapees can be fined $100,000 and face imprisonment for up to five years.
02:03Sergeant Ford tells the Morning Edition that homicide numbers are showing a noticeable decline.
02:09So for 2024, to date, well, let us say around this date, there would have been 278 murders.
02:18For 2025, 233.
02:22It speaks to a, I want to say, significant reduction.
02:27And we will attribute this to the SOE, in part, giving us the necessary powers.
02:39Additionally, he tells us, since the start of the state of emergency, authorities have targeted 773 priority offenders
02:49and seized 70 illegal firearms, including revolvers, pistols, shotguns, and high-powered rifles, along with 914 rounds of ammunition.
03:00Further, he says, over 772 kilograms of marijuana and nearly 237 grams of cocaine have been confiscated.
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