Two-wheeled enforcement
Kitchener bylaw crews patrol parks and trails on motorbikes
KITCHENER — The abandoned campsite is tucked away deep in the bush, far from where most dog-walkers and kids might go, but it’s nothing short of a colossal mess.
Filthy clothes lie strewn knee-deep around the ground, over an area the size of a modest house. The junk includes mould-covered kids’ toys, broken crockery, dented bike rims, empty propane canisters and piles of costume jewelry.
Even from the edge of the mess, it’s possible to see ample evidence of drug use: a half-dozen syringe wrappers, empty syringes, needle caps.
“People don’t think stuff like this happens in the city,” comments Dennis Cockwell, a bylaw enforcement officer with the City of Kitchener. “But it does.”
He’s one of four Kitchener officers who patrol the city’s parks and about 200 kilometres of trails from May to September. The rest of the year, they do regular bylaw enforcement.
Kitchener’s trail bike program started in 1997 with four summer employees who zipped through the city’s parks and trails on
Kawasaki 650 motorcycles.
Today, the trail bike officers ride on electric Zero motorcycles, which pollute less and are much quieter.
They give the city eyes on some of the less accessible areas in city parks. Cockwell knows every trail in the city’s parks, the most popular spots for bush parties, the places where homeless people are likely to set up camp.
He and his colleagues alert city operations staff to any vandalism they spot, illegal dumping, or the need to clean up abandoned campsites such as the one Cockwell came across by the banks of Schneider Creek near Overland Drive. Because the bylaw officers can get in where cars and trucks can’t, they regularly help police in searches for missing persons.
Gloria MacNeil, the director of bylaw enforcement in Kitchener, says the park patrols have made a difference. “We have seen less vandalism in the parks and along the trails,” she said. “We used to come across a higher number of bush parties and people drinking in the parks and in the bush areas and this has substantially decreased over the years.”
She says the program gives residents an increased sense of security, knowing that parks and trails are regularly patrolled.
In most cases, Cockwell said, officers are looking for people to comply with the bylaw. “It’s education first. I’ll warn you today. (But if) you’re going to do it again tomorrow, you should pretty much expect a ticket.”
The most common ticket they issue is for unlicensed dogs and dogs off leash, with 51 tickets issued last summer.
Some infractions will get an automatic ticket, Cockwell said: stopping in a school zone or having your dog off leash at four key parks; Victoria Park or Huron Natural Area, as well as outside the leash-free areas at McLennan and Kiwanis parks.
With fines of $200 for not licensing your dog, $200 for letting the dog run free, $95 for failing to pick up after your pet and $95 for not having the licence with you when you walk the dog, “it could be an expensive day for a walk,” Cockwell noted.
Most of the time, though, Cockwell reminds people of the rules, and simply ensures the dog gets leashed or the booze gets put away.
For 20 years Kitchener was the only local municipality with such a program. But in May, Waterloo started a pilot program, with officers on mountain bikes patrolling its parks and trails Thursdays to Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. until September
Kitchener runs its program for about $90,000 a year.
The Waterloo program’s overall budget is $20,000. “However given the infancy of the program and success measures we will likely be looking to expand our reach and funding” if the pilot program turns into a permanent one, said Chris Mulhern, who is managing the Waterloo trial.
Mulhern says the program offers several benefits, including allowing officers to connect with the public.
The bylaw officers also help connect people with other services, if needed, Mulhern said. “For example if there is a park that has graffiti or tagging, and it had not been previously identified by the public, our officers would then reach out to the police for identification and city staff for clean up.” Or they might help homeless people sleeping in the park connect with other social services.
A bylaw officer on a bicycle or motorbike gives the city and its enforcement efforts higher profile.
When the bikes zip on trails by schools during recess, kids line up to wave and give the officers highfives.