Caledon set to adopt tiered municipal law enforcement system, add two parking officers

February 8, 2024 · 0 Comments

Town staff recently completed municipal law enforcement service level review

By ZACHARY ROMAN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Caledon will soon make changes to its municipal law enforcement service levels.

At Caledon Council’s February 6 General Committee meeting, Councillors endorsed a recommendation to adopt a tiered municipal law enforcement system and add two full-time equivalent parking officers.

In July of 2023, Council directed Town of Caledon staff to conduct a review of the municipality’s municipal law enforcement service level. The goal of the review was to assess bylaw enforcement models used by other municipalities, and use the findings to create a new model for Caledon that will better serve residents.

Currently, the Town of Caledon employs nine bylaw officers, one animal control officer, and one full-time and three part-time parking officers.

“The by-law officers are deployed Monday to Friday in a condensed four-day work week schedule involving three nine-hour shifts and one eight-hour shift,” said staff in a report to Council. “One officer… provides weekend coverage. Also, from May to September, one by-law officer… will work an afternoon shift which provides coverage into the early evening.”

The review staff conducted discovered that best practices in other municipalities saw use of a tiered municipal law enforcement officer (MLEO) system.

In a tiered system, MLEO 1 officers would be tasked with responding to parking-related matters, complaints related to signs and noise, and after-hours complaints. They would provide 24/7 coverage through a two weeks of day shifts and two weeks of night shifts schedule.

MLEO 2 officers would be responsible for more complex complaints and infractions such as zoning, property standards, licensing, woodland, fill and dumping. They would work during regular business hours.

As a result of the review, staff proposed that Council adopt either a four-platoon system with day and night shifts, or the tiered system described above.

Council voted to choose the tiered system, with Ward 3 Councillor Doug Maskell adding an amendment for the two extra parking officers, and it will be recommended for official adoption at an upcoming Council meeting.

As part of the municipal law enforcement level review, staff conducted a survey of Caledon residents.

Staff found that 78 per cent of people surveyed were not satisfied with Caledon’s current bylaw deployment model. Staff also discovered that 63 per cent of respondents wanted to see more weekend coverage and 61 per cent of respondents wanted to see more overnight coverage.