With a booming economy comes more people and unfortunately with more people comes more crime.

Okotoks and its surrounding areas were some of the fastest growing communities in Canada during the recent economic boom, but the boom has brought along some problems.

In the past three years the caseload at the Okotoks courthouse, which handles cases from Calgary’s border  to High River, has increased by almost 7,000 cases.

Even though a recession has set in the boom on crime is still occurring. Over the last year the caseload in Okotoks grew by another 2,000 and the Okotoks courthouse was already considered to be at its capacity one year ago.

The problem with a busy courthouse is the amount of time it takes trials to be heard. According to the Province the average time for setting a trial is around six months. However, those figures include trials set for those who have been refused bail. In custody trials are supposed to be heard within three months.

In practice trials that require one full court day are being scheduled for early 2011, more than a year down the road.

Case laws set parameters for trial times and a year away is outside of those parameters. Judges are raising their eyebrows when they hear trial times set for January 2011. Defence lawyers are giving notice they will be making applications to have their client’s cases dismissed because of the delays. Recently, one man who was self-represented had his charges withdrawn when the Crown prosecutor asked to reschedule his trial. The judge said the delay would be excessive between the offence date and when the trial would be heard.

The government said they are not expecting a flurry of cases being dismissed as a result of the backlog at the courthouse.

Over the past year there have been moves to speed up the process. An extra Crown prosecutor is in court twice a week to talk with lawyers about resolving their cases. The court will also start earlier by half-an-hour in the New Year.

The bottom line is trial wait times are not getting any better.

The issue of re-opening a circuit court in High River was discussed a year ago. That possibility is still up in the air.

Will the government wait another year to see if the changes will make a difference? Or will they wait until trial times start freeing up as lawyers get their clients off on a legal technicality?

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