Bylaw enforcement service calls on the rise: Town Staff

By ZACHARY ROMAN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Caledon's bylaw officers have been busy.

At Caledon Council's January 7 General Committee meeting, Town of Caledon municipal law enforcement employee Joel Assaly provided an update to Councillors on the Town's increased municipal law enforcement service levels through a memorandum. 

In July of 2023, Town staff were told by Council to review municipal law enforcement service levels and report back to Council. Staff did so and in February of 2024, Council passed a motion to implement increased service levels based on data gathered by Town staff. At that time, a budget motion was also passed to add two full-time parking enforcement officers to the Town's municipal law enforcement team. 

Since the change in service level, Caledon bylaw officers have responded to a surge in after-hours calls. From June 1 to September 30 last year, they responded to 297 of them, compared to just 69 in the same time frame in 2023.

“During after-hours operations, officers respond to calls by gathering necessary information and taking appropriate action. As a result, 297 complaints were addressed, and corresponding files were generated. These included both parking and non-parking complaints, ensuring timely responses to parking-related issues and the initiation of appropriate actions for non-parking concerns,” reads the memorandum. “Non-parking complaints include a variety of issues, including fireworks, noise disturbances, animal control matters, and more. This demonstrates the program's versatility and its ability to address a wide range of community concerns.”

In the June 1 to September 30 time period last year, bylaw officers issued 4,197 parking tickets, up from 3,429 tickets in that period in 2023.

“Enhanced parking enforcement throughout the Town resulted in a 22 per cent increase in parking ticket issuance,” reads the memorandum.

Assaly's memorandum said the increased municipal law enforcement service levels are preparing Caledon for future growth. It said regular evaluations of service levels will be completed to provide the best service to the community