A Community Safety Officer in Humboldt will be able to charge people for offences like distracted driving and speeding. File Photo/northeastNOW Staff

By Doug Lett

Humboldt Community Safety Officer

Humboldt Community Safety Officer can tackle speeding and other problems says City Council

Nov 29, 2022 | 9:00 AM

Humboldt city council has approved the creation of a new position for the city – a Community Safety Officer (CSO).

“It’s basically a sworn officer, a peace officer, that has more authority than just a bylaw officer does, and a little bit less than an RCMP member,” said Humboldt City Manager Joe Day.

“The position will allow us to enforce a lot of the types of laws and infractions that annoy the community, the loud vehicles, the speeding vehicles, distracted driving, those sorts of things,” said Day.

A report to council said the CSO will not have a gun but the position will involve using body armour, along with pepper spray, a police baton, and handcuffs.

The CSO will also not be responsible for investigating criminal code cases. But the new officer will be able to lay charges under provincial laws, such as the Traffic Safety Act, Highways and Transportation, and Alcohol and Gaming.

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“It doesn’t go quite that far as criminal charges,” said Day. “It’s speeding, distracted driving, things like that. It does have the power to detain, so if he gets into the position where there would be criminal charges he can detain until the RCMP arrive.”

Day said the main advantage is that it allows the city to tackle local problems that RCMP may not have time for.

“Say for example there is a certain time of the week or time of the year that there’s more speeding around the school zones, in the past we could have asked the RCMP to do it and hope they have no other more serious matters to attend to. Now with the CSO program, we are hoping we can actually have a presence in those school zones at that time. Just a little bit more control over some of those activities,” he said.

Humboldt already has a bylaw enforcement officer, and Day said the officer has already completed the training required for a CSO.

“The plan with council is for us to create the program, create the position, and then move our bylaw officer up into that position,” said Day.

A report estimates the annual cost of the program to be around $125,000 dollars, which is more than the $92,000 for a bylaw officer, but less than the estimated $156,000 for another full-time RCMP officer. Those numbers include salaries, along with other costs like equipment and office space.

“If we find it provides a level of local enforcement at a more affordable cost, we may look to expand it but generally, it’s just about trying to have a presence and trying to address the smaller matters before they become bigger matters,” said Day.

While the program is new for Humboldt, other communities in the province already have CSO positions, such as Yorkton and Meadow Lake.

Humboldt city council approved the new position at it’s Monday evening meeting. It officially begins on Dec. 1st.

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Doug.lett@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @DougLettSK