[Locke]

Oh....you have to be goddamned kidding me. You cant make this stuff up.

It was a typical bummer of a Sunday night game for the 2017-18 Edmonton Oilers: build a comfortable lead into the third period against the playoff-bound Anaheim Ducks, then blow it and let in the game-winner in overtime. It was March 25, and the team was already mathematically eliminated from the post-season, but a city of diehard hockey fans remained hooked.

That included, it is alleged, staff at the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) downtown division responsible for processing accused people awaiting bail hearings. For each arrest, officials must submit to the Alberta Crown bail office (CBO) a package including the offence summary, arrest report, warrants and other particulars to get the wheels of justice turning. The Criminal Code requires a detainee’s hearing to occur within 24 hours of arrest. Police from around Alberta electronically file these reports throughout the day and night—it’s part of the around-the-clock nature of police work.
It’s not the plaintiff of this suit, though, suggesting that Oilers fandom accounts for some of the delays. It’s the defendant—the Alberta government. In an affidavit filed in October that attempts to explain the moving parts that must align to meet the 24-hour requirement, assistant chief Crown prosecutor Travis Stang singles out the provincial capital’s police force as a challenging partner in these efforts.

“One source of frustration for the CBO has been the late delivery of electronic bail packages, or the mass delivery of electronic bail packages late at night and close to the end of business hours,” Stang states. “We noted a delay in the submission/receipt of bail packages from EPS that we observed seemed consistent with and mostly coincided with the televised playoff game times in 2018, most notable [sic] the Edmonton Oiler games.”

https://www.macleans.ca/news/were-ed...ch-the-oilers/