Since Sept. 1, the city has received 345 complaints under the controversial Safe Streets Bylaw, city manager of bylaw services Charlotte Peters reported to city council on Monday.
Under the bylaw, bylaw officers could issue $100 tickets for a wide range of “nuisance” behaviour, including panhandling in many circumstances, graffiti, public drug use, open burning in public places and lying down or obstructing sidewalks and roads. The bylaw came into effect at the beginning of September after a divided city council approved it in June.
“From Sept. 1 to now, we still have not written a ticket (under the Safe Streets Bylaw),” Peters said.
Mayor Lyn Hall said he’s pleased to hear that Bylaw Services has heard the concerns of city council and the public about how the bylaw should be rolled out.
“It is not heavy-handed, it’s an educational approach,” Hall said.
In addition to responding to complaints under the Safe Street Bylaw, bylaw services responded to 876 calls for service in relation to discarded needles so far this year, up from 742 last year, she said. The city also received 3,293 calls in relation to “squatters and homeless encampments,” Peters said.
That is up from 2,261 such calls in 2020.
They also received 24 calls regarding fires lit by unsheltered individuals, she said, which is “a drop in the bucket,” as most of those calls go directly to the fire department.
Over the course of their duties this year, bylaw officers seized more than a dozen weapons, including baseball bats, improvised clubs and knives.
“Our guys downtown are doing work that is sometimes risky…” Peters said.
This year four additional bylaw officers were added to the department, doubling the size of the downtown safety team, and expanding the hours of service from 10 hours per day to 16.
“Since June we’ve found five missing persons… for the RCMP,” Peters said.
Bylaw officers have assisted multiple individuals suffering from drug overdoses and referred individuals to resources and housing through the Community Safety Hub working group, she said.
In September, bylaw officers were approached about some stolen property taken from a masonry company downtown, Peters wrote in her written report to city council.
“Although property crime is a policing and not bylaws matter, (the victim) provided the Bylaw Officers with a description as well as a photo of what was stolen,” Peters wrote. “During their patrols officers located an individual using the equipment to transport their belongings to the Lower Patricia Encampment. The item was returned to the masonry company.”
“We have a lot of stolen property from the new pool,” Peters added in her verbal report to council.
Coun. Brian Skakun said the city’s bylaw officers are responding to a huge number of calls – the equivalent of nine calls a day regarding homeless camps and two a day regarding discarded needles.
“The Safe Streets Bylaw has been a catalyst for a whole lot of things in the community,” Skakun said.
The city saw a “huge increase in calls” this year, Coun. Kyle Sampson said. But while progress is sometimes hard to see, “progress is being made.”
