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N.B. report shows stats for community offences over last 2 years

Jan 18, 2017 | 4:00 PM

A recent report shows what Community Safety Officers (CSOs) have been up to over the past two years in the City of North Battleford.

The City of North Battleford Municipal Enforcement Presence, Visibility, Public Safety Initiatives report shows the number of incidents CSOs have responded to over the 2015-2016 years. The calls for service include public intoxication violations, animal complaints, distracted driving and parking violations.

One of the highest jumps over the years was unsightly property inspections, which doubled from the 2015 to 2016 year.

Director of Protective Services, Albert Headrick, said that the city took a strong stance regarding the community’s appearance.

“For growth and prosperity, if your community looks tired it sends the wrong signal out and this community is not tired,” Headrick said. “It’s a beautiful community. All we need to do in some areas is just clean it up a bit and that’s what we’ve been doing as a city, in regards to the city itself, and also in regards to our residences. We’ve been doing a great job in the last couple years. We’ve gotten a lot of positive comments that people that have been here previously have come back and seen a big transition.”

Public intoxication cases also saw a significant jump, up by more than double. Headrick said it is an issue every community faces and added CSOs in the community are working to mend problems with individuals rather than constantly fining repeat offenders.

“Basically we have the authority under our act where we can basically leave fines, but in some cases fines are not the final answer,” he said. “We have some clients that require some special needs and that’s what we’re looking at doing at this particular time.”

Animal complaints and investigations were yet another statistic that doubled, but Headrick pointed out that those cases depend on animals and owners, and those numbers fluctuate constantly.

The report shows that many parking and driving violations decreased, including handicap and fire lane parking. School zone speeding was also on the decline.

“Their work is extraordinary,” Headrick said in regards to CSOs. “It’s exemplary, and they do a very good job for the community. They work very collectively with the RCMP, and with both forces working collectively you’ve got some very good proven results.”

 

Katherine Svenkeson is a reporter with battlefordsNOW. She can be reached at katherine.svenkeson@jpbg.ca or on Twitter @ksvenekson