Police monitor violent sex offender in Regina’s Heritage area

The public may have concerns about a high-risk sex offender living in Regina, but police say public safety remains the priority in situations like this.

Jared (Jarrod) Charles is a violent sex offender who triggered two Amber Alerts in the province several years ago. In one case, he abducted an eight-year-old girl from a playground in Prince Albert and sexually assaulted her.

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He living in the Heritage neighbourhood in Regina after serving his entire sentence. This is the same neighbourhood Louis Ted Mercredi, who is deemed to be a high risk to reoffend sexually, lives in.

“Charles has indicated that he is unable or unwilling to abide by conditions and that he is at a high risk to reoffend sexually,” the RCMP noted in a statement on Charles’s release.

It now falls to the Regina Police Service to manage the situation.

“The first step (is) ensuring that people are aware who is residing in their community,” deputy police chief Lorilee Davies told reporters on Wednesday morning.

“Number two is that we have investigators assigned to high-risk offenders, and that investigator has already made contact with Mr. Charles, knows where he will be residing and, in co-operation with our probation partners, we’ll be monitoring to ensure that he is abiding by his conditions.

“In addition to that, all of our patrol officers obviously have seen his picture and know what his conditions are. We certainly will do our best to ensure that he is abiding by those conditions. I want the public to know that it’s not a case that he’s put here in our community and we hope for the best. We are doing what we can to ensure that he is following those conditions.”

It is a unique situation because Charles was not released early with conditions applied, as many offenders are, but rather completed his entire sentence, Davies explained.

“We had no say in where he was going to reside,” Davies noted.

“He had completed his full sentence, and so that does limit the options that, for instance, the Correctional Service of Canada would have in terms of having a say in what those conditions might be and sort of that slow reintegration to the community. So here is where we at today.”

Davies admitted to some frustration with the situation.

“Frustrating is the right word. It’s unfortunately the system that we live in,” she said.

“Mr. Charles had served his time. The courts indicated that length of time to serve. We really have to balance the rights of an individual who has served their time and is now back in the community versus the risk to the public. And it is a tricky balance. I wish there were no people who had offended in our community, absolutely. Unfortunately, that’s not reality, and so I think really our role is to ensure that we are on top of it, that we are very aware of the conditions, aware of the risk to reoffend, and that we have personnel dedicated to monitor that. I don’t think it helps us to be frustrated, but we just have to do the best that we can with the information.”

While that police monitoring work is underway, Davies said the police force also relies on the public, but not for vigilante justice.

“We do rely on the public to be our eyes and ears. If there is suspicious activity they see in their community, we need them to report that to us so that we can act on it,” the deputy chief explained.

“As in any situation, if people see something that seems not quite right, we ask them to call us. I think it’s also a good opportunity, as it is really at any time, for parents to have conversations with their children around, you know, being aware of your situation. If something doesn’t seem right, get a hold of a trusted adult, report that, and just really those conversations around safety.”