Sunday Edition Exclusive – The Revolving Door of Justice Continues for Wanted Man
Yet another violent offender is caught by police only to be immediately released back into the public. A Sunday Edition Exclusive.
Each Wednesday, the Alberta RCMP releases its top five most-wanted individuals on social media, and making this list again was 32-year-old Dwayne Gabriel Sawan, who was wanted on seven outstanding warrants. These included charges of uttering threats, assault, assault with a weapon, and four counts of failure to appear for his court date.
The good news this week is that Sawan was located in Peace River, where he was taken into custody by the local RCMP
After the Wednesday post on Facebook, Sawan was taken into custody based on a tip received regarding his whereabouts. He then made an appearance in a Peace River courtroom before a Justice of the Peace, who heard the charges against one of Alberta’s most-wanted individuals—at least according to the RCMP, who had been searching for him after he was charged with several serious offenses. Sawan also faced four warrants for failing to appear in court to address those charges.
The result, after hearing the evidence and reviewing court records for Sawan’s charges of assault with a weapon and uttering threats, was that this judge apparently thought it was in the best interest of the Alberta public to release him back into society, setting a new court date for March 3 in Peace River
Apparently in Alberta, if you assault someone with a weapon, threaten them and then fail to show up 4 times for court, you get at least one more chance to show you will show up on the fifth try.
For those of you the are loyal readers of the AB Post, you know this isn’t the first time we have called out the Alberta Justice System for their revolving door policy on dangerous offenders.
The Troubling Release of Derrick Whitford
Back on February 3rd the RCMP once again were on the lookout for another wanted individual, a character named Derrick Whitford who was well known to them across the province. Locally Whitford was wanted for an incident in Mayerthorpe where he pointed a gun at two people on the street and then dumping the car he was driving in Sangudo before fleeing on foot with his hand gun. Nearly a year would pass before RCMP found Whitford again, this time holed up in an apartment in Red Deer where the RCMP tactical unit was used to take him into custody.
With the wanted man now safely in custody and the public protected from his violent nature, he appeared via video camera before a judge in Mayerthorpe last summer. Already wanted on warrants for firearm offenses—including possessing a dangerous weapon, possessing a prohibited weapon, and obstructing a police officer—logic would suggest the judge would throw the book at him
We should mention that this didn’t include the new charges he faced for the Red Deer incident where he faced these new charges which were ultimately dropped.
Assault causing bodily harm
Assault
Failure to appear for court (x3)
Mischief
The Crown in Red Deer decided to drop all those charges. I am assuming the RCMP that arrested him with the help of the tactical team were just having a bad day when they decided to charge him with assault causing bodily harm and hiding from all the other charges he face. Nothing to see here folks. Keep looking the other way please.
A Justice System Defying Logic
With all of this evidence before them, on a warm summer day in 2024, the Justice in Mayerthorpe— in what can only be described as a shockingly poor moment of judgment—accepted the equally bizarre recommendation of the Crown to hold Whitford accountable with minimal responsibility. A 465-day sentence was handed down, of which, since he had already been in custody awaiting court for 310 days, he had only 155 days—or roughly four months—left to serve.
“There must be deterrence and denunciation,” Wendel stated during the trial, which was presided over by Justice Jeffrey B. Champion.
Honest to God, that’s on the official record. The Crown felt a year in prison—really just a four-month sentence—was justice for you and me as tax-paying citizens of this province.
Ironically, just over four months later, 18-year-old Travis Strawberry, a young man from O’Chiese First Nation, was found stabbed to death in the woods of Clearwater County. And the prime suspect, you might ask, in what seems an obvious question?
Derrick Whitford—the same fellow let out with not even a slap on his wrist for multiple weapons offenses and a history of violence.
Derrick Whitford was given a short jail sentence for multiple violent crimes only to see him be charged with murder in the stabbing of an 18 year man shortly after his release.
Time to Hold the Province and the Legal System Accountable.
Yours and mine frustration with Alberta’s justice system and political options is palpable, and it’s a sentiment that echoes across many discussions about crime and safety in the province. Let’s break this down based on what’s happening and what’s known as of February 23, 2025.
The RCMP’s challenges with recruitment and morale in Alberta are real.
They’re dealing with violent repeat offenders like Derrick Whitford, who was released despite a history of weapons offenses and violence—only to be charged with murdering Travis Strawberry months later.
Alberta’s Court of Justice and the Crown prosecutors operate under provincial jurisdiction, meaning the decisions to release or lightly sentence these offenders rest with local authorities.
Blaming Trudeau or the feds for Whitford’s release doesn’t hold water—the Criminal Code might be federal, but its application here is provincial. The RCMP can arrest all day, but if justices and prosecutors don’t follow through, it’s a provincial failure, not Ottawa’s.
The UCP’s solution—pushing for an Alberta police force to replace the RCMP—doesn’t directly address this judicial bottleneck. Their argument, rooted in their 2023 platform and earlier rural crime strategies, is about control: a provincial force could align better with Alberta’s priorities, like cracking down on rural crime or repeat offenders.
They’ve already started initiatives like the RAPID Response Team, giving sheriffs and wildlife officers more authority, and they’ve surged sheriffs into Edmonton and Calgary for patrols.
But the core issue: if judges keep releasing these guys, it doesn’t matter who’s cuffing them. The UCP’s poured money into hiring 50 new prosecutors since 2019 and boosting the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT), but the outcomes—like Whitford’s case—suggest the problem’s deeper than enforcement numbers.
Why isn’t this a bigger election issue? The UCP’s held power since 2019, re-elected in 2023 under Danielle Smith, partly because they’ve leaned hard into “tough on crime” messaging—rural crime strategies, more cops, border security stances.
Yet Albertans have seen a drop in prosecutions under Smith (221,000 in 2023 vs. 315,893 in 2018 under the NDP), despite steady police charges, hinting at a prosecution bottleneck.
Yet, the UCP’s base doesn’t seem to punish them for it—they’re still the “law and order” party compared to the NDP’s softer reputation. The NDP, under Rachel Notley from 2015-2019, did fund legal aid and hire 35 prosecutors, but their approach—often framed as lenient or “bleeding heart”—alienates voters who want harsher penalties, not rehabilitation experiments.
Alberta’s crime severity index has climbed in recent years—Maclean’s flagged seven of Canada’s top ten “most dangerous” cities as Albertan in 2018, and rural crime’s still a hot topic. Neither party’s cracked the code. The UCP’s big on optics—photo ops with sheriffs, promises of control—but judicial leniency undercuts it.
The NDP’s focus on systemic fixes like drug courts or social services feels detached when bodies like Strawberry’s turn up. Fifteen years of this—Notley’s term plus Smith’s—has left a province where safety’s a buzzword, not a reality.
A new party? Maybe.
A reality-based party would need to tackle judicial accountability head-on: stricter sentencing guidelines, maybe a victims’ ombudsman with teeth, and a prosecution system that doesn’t choke on its own backlog.
It’d have to ditch the UCP’s federal scapegoating and the NDP’s idealism for something pragmatic—lock up violent repeaters, period.
What’s clear is the status quo’s failing. Whitford’s release didn’t just frustrate the RCMP—it cost a life.
Sawan’s back out there too.
Whatever’s going on, it’s not working, and Albertans like you and me are right to demand better. Whether that’s a new party that actually does more than talk a good story – or forcing the UCP to own this mess, the clock’s ticking.
