Police want to see city by-law officers roles beefed up.
The issue of by-law officers and their limited work hours came up at this week’s police services board meeting.
Chief Sylvie Hauth says the current set up means police end up handling most nuisance complaints like calls for dogs barking at 2 am.
“I believe that our current by-law department the way it functions Monday to Friday, kind of 8-4 with more of a hands on approach kind of wait until the issues come to us is not efficient,” Hauth said.
Hauth went on to say there is definitely room to change not only the format but the scope of the work by-law officers do.
The police services board passed a motion this week asking the city to look into increasing the number of officers and expanding their shifts.
The police chief notes the pandemic has proven to be a good example of how other agencies can handle calls involving educating the public.
“We’ve been able to use by-law in terms of the education process hand in hand with the health unit where as the police was kind of the third response instead of being the first response,” Hauth said.
