By Greg Higgins

CSO’s having impact on public safety, according to city

Jun 20, 2017 | 12:00 PM

North Battleford’s director of protective services believes recent numbers show increased Community Safety Officer (CSO) presence is having a big impact on public safety.

At last night’s city planning committee meeting, Albert Headrick presented the Municipal Enforcement, Presence, Visibility and Public Safety Initiative numbers and some have fluctuated quite a bit this year compared to the same time period last year.

The number of municipal citations issued are up almost 100 per cent from the first five months of 2016 where there were 1,401 tickets handed out, compared to the same time frame this year which saw 2,449. Headrick contributes these and other increases to the hiring of two additional CSO’s.

“The question we have to ask is, is your presence, visibility and community engagement have any impact in regard to public safety? And the answer is yes,” Headrick said. “When you look at some of this statistical data like unregistered vehicles, fire lane violations, handicap violations, [all are down from last year] through education people now understand the consequences.”  

Headrick called these stats a “benchmark” for the work being done. He said public education on the two vehicles, which had licence plate readers installed last November, has resulted in a significant decline in that offense. Headrick said now that everyone knows CSO’s don’t have to type in plates manually and it isn’t as easy to get away with, they are registering their vehicles.

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Another stat which was down from last year was downtown foot patrols. The number dropped from 73 this time last year to 61 this year. Headrick attributed this decline to two officers being on vacation and the fact the city hasn’t truly hit its summer weather yet. As the weather warms up and he gets a full staff, he expects those numbers to surpass last year’s totals.

Greg.higgins@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @realgreghiggins.