Community Peace Officers gearing up for a busy year

Chestermere’s Community Peace Officers (CPOs) are coming off of a busy year in the city with 2018 showing no signs of slowing down.
“Public safety, with our job, is our main goal,” said Acting Supervisor CPO Sgt. Trever Bowman.
As Community Peace Officers, Bowman and the rest of the Peace Officers are trained and authorized through the provincial government.
Because of this, Chestermere’s CPOs are able to enforce by city bylaws and provincial legislation.
So far this year, they have had almost 50 per cent of last year’s call volume in the first three-months of 2018.
“So, this year’s going to be challenging,” said Bowman.
He attributes this increase in calls to both Chestermere’s rapid growth and the fact that they have a full complement of CPOs this year.
“We’ve actually been able to backfill some of our vacancies,” he said.
While sometimes writing a ticket is unavoidable in enforcing municipal bylaws or provincial legislation, Bowman said that their goal is to educate before enforcement.
“We try to be proactive in our duties we want to address problems before they can become complaints,” he said.
Looking to the future, Bowman said their operational priorities for 2018 include traffic safety as well as public education and citizen engagement.
This will take the form of school and classroom visits by Peace Officers, working with school patrols, and partnering with the fire department for lake and beach patrols.
He also said they will have a continued emphasis on the fair and equitable enforcement of bylaws and legislation in the city.
“Transparency and accountability is huge,” he said, “Where circumstances permit, again education before enforcement.”
Anyone wanting more information or to contact Chestermere’s CPOs can online to http://www.chestermere.ca/200/Municipal-Enforcement.