Moncton bylaw and community safety officers will have increased powers early next year, once a new provincial pilot program kicks into gear.
Right now the city’s 25 officers are limited in what they can do and how they can protect themselves, said Charles LeBlanc, director of bylaw enforcement and community safety with the City of Moncton.
But that will change once the officers are appointed as “special constables” under the New Brunswick Police Act.
Charles LeBlanc, Moncton’s director of bylaw enforcement and community safety, says that the new designation will give officers more ways to protect themselves. (Pierre Fournier/CBC)
The new designation will “provide some tools to our officers, such as batons, pepper spray, and the ability to detain individuals in certain circumstances,” LeBlanc said.
The new designation will also allow community safety officers to enter private properties, something they can’t do now.
LeBlanc offered the example of a call about someone trespassing on private property. The new designation “would just give us that extra authority to be able to deal with the call,” he said.
“If somebody is not compliant, we can potentially detain the person,” LeBlanc said, and then call the RCMP to “come and finish or deal with the issue.”
Community safety officers respond to “low priority calls” he said, which helps free up the RCMP to respond to “higher priority calls.”
“We look forward to seeing this,” said Supt. Benoit Jolette, the Codiac RCMP’s commanding officer.
“It’s just another set of people that are out there ensuring public safety.”
Jolette said some policies and procedures were still under development, and that Codiac RCMP will participate in a working group meeting biweekly until the project is launched.
Designations could come ‘early next year’
The special constable designation for community safety officers is “something that the city’s had on the plate for probably five or six years now,” Mayor Shawn Crossman said.
Crossman said that after he was elected in May, he “made it a priority to get this solved right away and get this addressed.”
Moncton Mayor Shawn Crossman campaigned on the idea of expanded powers for the city’s community safety force. (Pierre Fournier/CBC)
Extra training is expected to be completed by mid-November, but it’s still not clear when the officers will receive their new designation.
A provincial news release says the program “is expected to be operational early next year.”
City spokesperson Aloma Jardine said the city was “still finalizing operational guidelines and oversights with the Province.”
Majority of calls involve vulnerable people
Public Safety Minister Robert Gauvin said the main concern for his department was the additional training the officers would need.
LeBlanc said Moncton’s community safety officers already have “a two-year police foundation program or they’ve already been through a police cadet program.”
Last month, Moncton city council approved spending $80,000 to provide extra training for its safety officers at the Atlantic Police Academy. The emphasis of that additional training is on crisis intervention and de-escalation, LeBlanc said.
“A good majority of our calls are with the vulnerable population,” he said.
“For us, it’s not about detaining somebody or arresting somebody … it’s really to try to find a solution to bring them off the street.”
Gauvin said he hopes the pilot program will help grow “visibility on the ground” for safety officers, and that other municipalities will look to emulate the program.
Neither Gauvin nor Crossman shared what specific measurements would quantify the success of the pilot program.