TORONTO -- More police officers are spending time in court rather than chasing down bad guys, while some paroled murderers and sex offenders get passes to amusement parks, the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police charged yesterday.

Lengthy court delays, soaring costs and lax prison sentences are making a mockery of the justice system, association president and York Region police Chief Armand La Barge said as he announced a new committee to work with government and community leaders to make the system more effective.

La Barge listed a raft of complaints he said clogged the system and kept officers from doing their jobs, among them a critical lack of justices of the peace, overbooked courts "and a growing insensitivity towards victims of crime.

Holly Knowles of Corrections Canada said federal parolees are occasionally allowed to visit vacation sites but just who is granted permission is tightly screened.

Sex offenders banned from being around children, for instance, would not be allowed to visit Wonderland, nor would a murderer ordered to abstain from alcohol be allowed to visit Oktoberfest celebrations.

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