Dave Prud'Homme, owner of Prairie Bylaw Enforcement, is firing back at claims made by Lou Morisette at a city council meeting on Feb. 1 where he suggested the officers receive only basic training and aren't making much of a difference in problems the city is facing downtown.
Prairie Bylaw, based out of Tyndall, Man. came to Thompson in November 2007. Morissette, owner of Setting Security Consultants and a citizen appointee on the city of Thompson's public safety committee, a former MLCC liquor inspector and retired RCMP staff sergeant, told city council that Prairie Bylaw Enforcement - with a $456,000 annual contract, approximately - is not helping to mitigate problems in the city's downtown area.
Prud'Homme says the idea that the bylaw officers receive "basic training" is far from true. Officers that work with Prairie Bylaw are graduates of the Northwest Law Enforcement Academy - an eight-month law, protection and safety program - and undergo on the job training he said. Their eight-month course includes 60 hours spent on criminal law - looking at substantive and procedural law, powers of arrest, search and seizure, common Criminal Code offences and criminal justice system procedures; 51 hours spent on police procedures and enforcement tactics, such as practical application of the law in police operations, hazardous goods and law enforcement review agency; and 44 hours on communications and law enforcement report writing.
A further 78 hours is spent on criminal investigation procedures and techniques, with emphasis put on criminal investigation procedures, investigative interviewing, interrogation techniques and legalities/deception, and facial identification of criminals; while 28 hours are spent on major crimes investigations such as robbery, homicide, sexual assaults, bomb threats, criminal intelligence, organized crime, economic crime and criminal profiling.
After that students are introduced to criminology and restorative justice in a community policing framework, with often includes a tour of Stony Mountain Penitentiary; look at officer safety and high-risk situations; spent time on situational analysis, which covers effecting thinking and judgment under stress; ethics and accountability in law enforcement; sexual harassment; human relations; and crime scene management and forensic identification - including protecting and securing a crime scene, recording a crime scene and more. They also go over provincial statues, arrest and control techniques, public speaking, crime prevention and crime response within a community policing framework, non-violent crisis management, employment preparation and job search, traffic control and traffic accident investigation, cultural diversity in law enforcement, police defensive tactics, preparing for courtroom success, firearms training and alcohol withdrawal syndrome.
Total tuition hours are 628, not counting additional hours used when guest lecturers and police recruiting agencies come calling. But Prud'Homme says the training officers receive at the Northwest Law Enforcement Agency isn't the only kind they undergo.
"Some officers have and are in the process of taking additional courses," he explains. "Officers usually spend two to three years with Prairie Bylaw Enforcement and go on to other agencies we have had our members go on to work in all fields."
Although Prud'Homme says that some members of the community view the officers in a negative light, it's often because they've had a negative run-in with them - whether because of receiving a ticket for an offence or some related matter. But for the most part, he says, the public shows its support.
"Continuously people have commented - in the private business sector and other agencies - on the efficiency of the service and the difference in the quality of life in Thompson that the service has made," he states. "Thompson would be back to what it was like in 2007 in a very short time if Prairie By\law Enforcement was not present."
To illustrate his point, Prud'Homme says that one only needs to look at the month-end reports and see the number of requests for service bylaw officers deal with - which went up 87 per cent in 2009 from the previous year - whether to dispose of alcohol, intervene in fights, deal with intoxicated individuals and other by-law situations.
"There is no way that a regular police force that enforces Criminal Code matters would be able to keep officers on the road dealing with these issues that are so important to the community for 10 hours a day, seven days a week," he says. Prud'Homme also adds that Prairie Bylaw, as an enhanced bylaw agency, doesn't have to get called away or consumed with paperwork that a police force would encounter, allowing officers to stay on the road and on patrol.
Mayor Tim Johnston says he believes the moves towards community safety the city of Thompson has made - including the recruiting of Prairie Bylaw Enforcement, has been the right thing for the city and has indeed made a difference in crime.
"I believe some of the moves we have taken - whether it's through Prairie Bylaw Enforcement, brushing, the graffiti program or improved relationships with the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission (MLCC) and the RCMP - are allowing us to start to see a difference," he says. "Clearly, we've seen it removed from the front page of every paper that we saw a few years ago, so we are making the right steps."
