Judging by the year-end report given to Thompson city council at a council meeting on Jan. 18, it's been a busy year for Prairie Bylaw Enforcement officers.
Prairie Bylaw Enforcement officers have been on the scene in Thompson for over two years now, with two officers on the road every day from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Dave Prud'Homme, owner of the agency which is based in Tyndall, Man., presented his report to council saying requests for service from the general public and business sector have risen quite a bit.
Open liquor infractions rose from 5,355 incidents to 7,426; but Prud'Homme says be believes this is not an indication that the problem of open liquor is getting worse but rather more people are reporting it - and backs up his theory by stating a 10 per cent rise in request for service since last year. Loitering had a total of 10,454 infractions; there were 1,069 causing disturbance infractions; and 3,013 incidents of liquor that had to be disposed of.
Prud'Homme says that despite the difficulty of getting bylaw officers away from the downtown section of Thompson for long periods of time due to frequent requests for service, the officers have managed to take care of a number of property standards infractions throughout 2009; opening and closing 405 cases altogether.
"We found it kind of difficult to attend a few of the property standards - when the officers are downtown they get calls to help with other things, fights, more alcohol," he explains. "The phones are going steady, the guys are very busy out there, but as soon as they get away from the business area for any time at all, the phones are ringing and something is happening."
The most prevalent property standards infractions for the year 2009 included derelict buildings; parking in front yards; parking in the street for 24 hours and noxious weeds.
Coun. Oswald Sawh pointed out that the main goal of council has always been compliance with individuals that cause bylaw infractions and an attempt to prevent them and solve the problems. Prud'Homme says the bylaw officers work very closely with other agencies such as the Thompson Homeless Shelter and addictions programs.
"We try to get people into these programs but as long as there's liquor available and other non-potables, you're going to have individuals who are using them," he says. "Most of these open liquor incidents are almost full bottles - and that's liquor they have not consumed. So you can imagine if they consumed that liquor on top of everything else." He adds bylaw officers have also had to get rid of lots of hairspray bottles and other non-potable items.
Prud'Homme says the bylaw officers try to get families of the individuals involved and work with them to get the person off the street.
Coun. Stella Locker asked Prud'Homme why there were so many calls to the bylaw officers coming from the homeless shelter. He says the shelter has agreed to take or shelter people on the street, while the bylaw officers will come to their aid when they call about someone being unruly, intoxicated or someone who has brought in alcohol. He says that officers attempt to find a relative of the unruly or intoxicated person or will release them from the shelter, but only if they're not a danger to themselves or anyone else.
Prud'Homme says a definite trend is noticeable when he drives throughout the city of Thompson undercover in an unmarked vehicle. He says that the people who most often cause disturbances or infractions watch carefully for the bylaw officers but continue their negative behaviour once they're called away on another request for service.
Above all, the main point Prud'Homme made while at council was that the real issue, and the real problem the bylaw officers have with dealing with infractions, is the amount of addiction that exists in Thompson and the entire province of Manitoba.
In a letter Mayor Tim Johnston sent to the then provincial Justice Minister Dave Chomiak in July, he pointed out that the City of Thompson has contracted Prairie Bylaw Enforcement at a cost of over $500,000 annually. In the same letter he requested that the province grant authority to bylaw officers to lay charges under provincial liquor legislation. Right now, bylaw officers can only enforce bylaws of the city but not provincial statutes. Some bylaw officers in Winnipeg have already been granted the right to enforce provincial liquor control statutes.
