The 10 peace officers who are part of the City of Airdrie’s Municipal Enforcement (ME) department can help residents deal with a nuisance barking dog or a neighbour who doesn’t shovel their sidewalk, but they are also responsible for enforcing many more rules and bylaws.
“We don’t touch criminal code. We do provincial mandates and bylaw mandates. We can deal with traffic, liquor offenses, animal bylaws and any kind of city bylaw,” Peace Officer Level 1 Annette Brown said. “RCMP mainly look after the criminal code, provincial procedures and then they can do (everything we can do).”
The Alberta Traffic Safety Act, Dangerous Animal Act, Provincial Offenses Procedures Act and the Petty Trespass Act are just a few ME Peace Officers can enforce. They often work closely with RCMP and the Airdrie Fire Department. Peace officers do have the power to make arrests.
“We will assist the RCMP quite a bit in traffic,” Brown said. “We’ll assist them if there’s an accident and we need traffic control. We’ll also assist (the) fire (department) when it comes to keeping people (away) or evacuating.”
Peace officers assisted with traffic control when the Calgary Police Service (CPS) and RCMP executed a search warrant at a rural property east of Airdrie April 12. (See story on page 7).
“We helped with traffic control and there were dogs involved so we had to go get them,” ME Team Lead Lynn Mackenzie said. “I think we have a really good relationship with RCMP.”
According to Mackenzie, the department has five level-one officers and five level-two officers. Level-one officers can ticket moving traffic violations while level-two officers cannot, except for taxis under the Taxi Bylaw or off-route trucks.
“RCMP are peace officers and can also enforce all municipal bylaws. (The City having peace officers) frees them up significantly. You really need all aspects of enforcement in the city in order for the city to be a safe place,” she said.
The continuing growth in Airdrie is having an impact on the volume and types of calls ME responds to.
“The growth of schools has really impacted (us),” Mackenzie said. “The number of schools, parking and everything that comes with that. We have so many schools now and (the officers) can’t be there every day of the week.”
Peace Officer Dan Luft said the main area he’s seen an increase is in traffic complaints.
“… You’ve got 60,000 people that have concerns. That’s a lot different than a town with 20,000 people,” he said. “It’s a bigger issue – there’s more cars. There’s just more of everything. It’s an increased workload due to the ballooning of the population.”
In 2015, ME responded to 7,975 calls, up from 7,829 in 2014 and issued 5,222 tickets. ME issued 4,495 tickets in 2014.
Being a peace officer isn’t all about handing out warnings or tickets, and Luft said one of the best parts of the job is that it’s never boring.
“For the most part it’s very self-directed. I can go out and be out in the city all day long and direct my day how I want to do it. It’s not sitting in an office all day (and I’m not) bored at the end of the day,” Luft said.
“I like interacting with kids. They like to wave at us when they see us,” Peace Officer Christine Giffin said. “Some of the parents are really good. They’ll say, ‘This is who you need to go to if you need help or you’re lost.’”
The ME department is based out of the Municipal Police Building on Highland Park Way in the city’s north east. The department is regulated by the Alberta Solicitor General’s office. The department is open from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Any after hour issues can be reported to the RCMP non-emergency phone line.
“I know a lot of people think we’re just bylaw officers but we’re not,” Giffin said. “We have extensive training we have to take to make sure we know what we’re doing with our job.”
