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Crown prosecutor Dallas Sopko can’t remember the last time he had an entire work-free weekend.
From Monday to Friday, he’s usually double or triple booked, and it’s typical for him to be in court five days a week. There’s a constant scramble to handle the relentless workload.
“You go home at the end of the day around suppertime from being in court one day and you’re cramming and preparing for what you have coming up the next day,” Sopko told CBC News.
“It’s common for Crowns in the regions to be working both days on the weekend, and to be working multiple evenings during the week.”
Sopko has been a prosecutor for more than eight years in the Edmonton rural and regional response office, responsible for covering courthouses in Stony Plain, Sherwood Park, St. Albert, Morinville, Glenevis, Evansburg and Mayerthorpe.
He’s one of hundreds of Alberta prosecutors currently dealing with never-ending staff shortages, frozen wages, unpaid overtime and crushing workloads.
“It’s a state of continual crisis,” said Damian Rogers, president of the Alberta Crown Attorneys’ Association. “The stress levels of everybody in the office in Edmonton where I work are very high. And they’re higher than was the case when I arrived to that office. Demonstrably so.”
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