NWT RCMP want highway cameras, electronic monitoring for offenders

NWT RCMP want highway cameras, electronic monitoring for offenders Alice Twa Tuesday September 22, 2026 at 6:01am MT Chief Supt Dyson Smith, RCMP commanding officer in the NWT, on October 31, 2025. Ollie Williams/Cabin Radio Share NWT RCMP have asked the territorial government to set up highway cameras, licence plate readers and electronic offender monitoring to help improve crime prevention. At a public briefing on crime in the NWT last week, Chief Superintendent Dyson Smith told MLAs a territorial crime reduction strategy – which MLAs demanded in June – needs to be a “whole of government approach.” “We must implement strategies that are not reliant on the RCMP,” said Smith. “What I mean by that is, if you could police your way out of this problem, we wouldn’t have this problem.” Smith suggested highway cameras and licence plate readers are tools the GNWT should set up at the highway entrances into the territory. He said these devices could alert RCMP to stolen vehicles coming into the territory and would give police access to evidence to catch people “before they do bad things.” Electronic monitoring equipment for offenders would help police who are already adopting “offender management” as a crime reduction strategy, he added. Advertisement. Advertisement. Smith said RCMP officers are now assigned to prolific offenders to “monitor their whereabouts and do compliance checks,” but staffing and resource decisions mean it can be several days before an officer “notices that somebody’s not where they’re supposed to be.” “There are certain individuals that if you can monitor them properly, it does have a significant impact on the crime rate and the communities,” said Smith. Asked by Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart how the GNWT is implementing the approaches recommended by Smith, justice minister Jay Macdonald said it isn’t. Macdonald said he had received no request from the RCMP for these particular supports but was open to having the conversation with Smith. During public safety town halls and at public hearings on proposed crime prevention legislation, some NWT residents have called on RCMP and MLAs to institute the likes of border checks and increased security at airports Advertisement. Advertisement. Smith has previously said manned RCMP border checks, drug sniffing dogs at post offices, or searches at airports are limited by Supreme Court of Canada rulings requiring police “to have reasonable suspicion” before they stop and search a…