Intoxicated people, open liquor, loitering, alcohol-related disturbances of the peace and warnings for smoking in public places were the top five incident types that occupied the City of Thompson’s bylaw enforcement officers in 2014, according to statistics presented to the public safety committee Jan. 8.
Bylaw enforcement officers dealt with 5,147 intoxicated people from June through December, including 1,130 in August alone. They also dealt with 3,789 open liquor container incidents and 3,622 incidents of loitering that involved 14,317 people collectively. There were 1,029 cases of intoxicated people causing a disturbance and they also issued 584 warnings for smoking in a prohibited public place.
There were also 286 incidents of causing a disturbance that were not linked to alcohol, 268 parking violation warnings issued and 242 panhandling incidents. A total of 68 parking tickets were handed out.
Other incidents that bylaw enforcers dealt with included 133 cases of littering, 119 public nudity incidents – 35 in August, far above the second-highest number of 18 in October – and 105 fighting incidents involving 183 people.
In total, bylaw enforcement officers disposed of 3,774 containers of liquor, 310 non-potable items and picked up 4,180 empty bottles.
The majority of requests for action by the officers – 347 – came in person, while 342 were relayed to the bylaw enforcers through the dispatcher. Downtown ambassadors requested their assistance 310 times, the RCMP 38 times, the homeless shelter 35 times and the bylaw enforcement officers responded to 11 requests for assistance from Thompson’s malls and 10 requests that did not fit any of the above categories.
Bylaw enforcement officers requested assistance from the RCMP 374 times, from Thompson Fire & Emergency Services (TFES) 53 times, from animal control 12 times, the homeless shelter six times and the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba (AFM) once.
Bylaw enforcers dropped 19 people off at their homes, seven at the hospital for medical appointments, two at the airport and found two missing people.
