Prince George city bylaw officers will be trained to use defensive tools, as well as naloxone.
A report going to city council Monday, written by the director of public safety Adam Davey, said that the new training program and tools assist the city’s bylaw services division in conforming to industry ‘best practices’ with peer cities across the province.
In the report, he explains that the role of bylaw officers in B.C. has evolved dramatically over the past three to five years and that most municipalities now experience substantial issues involving persons with addiction and mental health issues as well as those who are precariously housed.
“This situation has been apparent in the City of Prince George and led to the creation of a dedicated team to patrol the downtown core as well as civic facilities, through a service enhancement in 2020,” said Davey.
He said bylaw services in Prince George now has 21 officers that all have contact in their daily duties with individuals who are experiencing mental health issues, drug addiction and in some instances homelessness.
“They also come into contact on a regular basis with individuals that are angered by this situation and attribute the situation to inaction on the part of the municipality.”
He said this is a precarious situation for the bylaw officers on the street as they have limited legal authority and currently no tools that they can use to protect themselves should their interactions with the public turn hostile and potentially violent.
Davey noted that bylaw staff do regularly take part in conflict de-escalation and other verbal training to de-escalate potentially volatile situations but this does not always work.
“Therefore, like our peer municipalities, other self-defensive tools are required to be carried to ensure the safety of staff.”
He said decisions have been made across British Columbia to bolster employee safety by training and equipping all bylaw officers with defensive batons, OC spray (pepper spray) and handcuffs.
Davey said the City of Prince George bylaw officers will be carrying these defensive force options starting on August 1, to align with best practices of other comparable municipalities.
There will also be an expansion of the naloxone pilot program, which was implemented in November 2022.
Since that time, naloxone has been administered on 21 occasions with success every time. This success translates into 21 lives not being lost.
“Requests have now come from other employees within Bylaw Services to also be trained so they can assist when required as they are also meeting individuals experiencing overdoses in their daily duties throughout Prince George,” said Davey.
He said staff appear to be very supportive of these initiatives and administration has included their feedback into the new program.
