Busy bylaw officers handling thousands of cases
Ottawa’s bylaw department has laid 75 charges under the province’s pandemic-related emergency order as of Thursday afternoon, with chief Roger Chapman saying it’s the busiest the department has ever been in his 30-year career.
Chapman said bylaw officers have handled almost 2,500 cases under the emergency order, not including the hundreds of proactive patrols in parks.
So far, only two of the violations have been obstruction charges — for example, people not giving their names to officers — and a few were related to businesses that remained open.
At times, the bylaw department has been under fire for coming down too hard on people playing in closed parks, but Chapman said the community has shown his staff support for the job they’ve been tasked with doing.
The bylaw department has a dedicated team of about 20 officers checking in on parks to make sure people are respecting the emergency order.
“They come to work every day and they understand that the role that they’re playing is very important to flatten the curve,” Chapman said on Friday.
“Sure, we’ve got some naysayers out there, people don’t necessarily support the enforcement actions that we’re taking, but I think, by and large, people understand and appreciate the work that we’re doing, and that’s important.
“Officers have a tough job to do and they’re members of the community as well.
“They live in these communities. They have children in these communities.
“They have family in these communities and they understand that we’re doing this work to ensure the safety of the public.”
Chapman said at the beginning of the emergency order that officers’ interactions with people in parks were generally positive, even as some people were struggling to understand what they could do and couldn’t do in public places.
Parks are closed, but people can still walk through them on paths.
Under the provincial order, groups of more than five people can’t socialize in public spaces.
“It’s unfortunate that we had to move into the second phase of enforcement, and that’s issuing charges, but it’s really for safety of the public,” Chapman said.
“We needed to get the message out there that this won’t be tolerated.” jwilling@postmedia.com twitter.com/JonathanWilling