OLDS — Some residents have called on the town to crack down on speeders by having an officer lay in wait in a vehicle for them to go by, but protective services director Justin Andrew says that’s just not an efficient use of staff resources and time.
Andrew made that point during a presentation to town council’s Nov. 7 policies & priorities meeting.
He also cited results from a survey conducted by the municipality in September.
Respondents were asked “would you support additional municipal resources focused specifically on traffic enforcement?” A total of 54.79 per cent said ‘no,’ and 45.21 per cent said ‘yes.’
Andrew said there's some sympathy for the frustration of residents subjected to speeding vehicles.
However, he noted that officers have a myriad of other duties, including enforcing many municipal bylaws, including those regarding animal control.
“It unfortunately takes a lot of time and a lot of effort and so we just simply have to look at where our resources are focused,” Andrew said.
“The comments that are made by a lot of citizens are that we need to be sitting on side streets in residential areas, waiting to catch people speeding, it’s just not the focus that we can dedicate those resources to.
“There’s too many other bigger ticket issues and items that are higher priority than to have somebody parked stationary like that.
“I can’t say that it’s impossible, but I cannot say that we can do it with regularity that would see the impact change.”
Coun. James Cummings understood Andrews’ point about the efficient use of officers’ time.
However, he noted that for the first time in a long time, the town now has two peace officers qualified to enforce traffic violations.
“I understand the constraints the peace officers have by trying to enforce the plethora of bylaws council has made over the years," said Cummings. “And that I think is more of a job of council to sit there and prioritize where we want this enforcement to lay, whether it’s on chickens or on public safety.
"I would of course veer towards public safety than anything else as being the number 1 priority of peace officer involvement in our community. But that’s for council to decide, probably at a later date.
“And I’d like to see how our two peace officers can adjust their behaviours and their use of time to enforce traffic (rules) without having to increase that resource.”
