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Council has decided to take time to discuss exactly what peace officers in Jasper should enforce before deciding what their designation and safety training should be.
Peace officer status in Alberta is getting an overhaul following the death of a peace officer in the field and all community peace officers have to be trained, qualified and equipped as Level 1, a higher level of certification than Jasper鈥檚 Level 2 officers.
Level 1聽officers are given special training covering officer safety, defensive tactics and weapons training. They are authorised to carry weapons such as batons, pepper spray, handcuffs and body armour.
But council has another option too: Stripping peace officer status in town and having municipal compliance officers.
Bylaw staff would be unable to enforce provincial statutes and would be restricted to enforcing municipal bylaws only.
At the council鈥檚 committee meeting on Tuesday, councillor Jenna McGrath said she does not think the community wants peace officers with spray and batons.
She said: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we can handle this as a municipality.
鈥淲hen going for the RCMP you are going through tests and interviews and psychological exams for carrying weapons.鈥�
Peace officers are responsible for animal control, bylaw enforcement, enforcement of provincial statutes and business licensing and parking control.
The officer who was killed on duty, Rod Lazenby, was attacked while responding to a call about dogs on a rural property south of Calgary.
Councillor Paul Butler said council should respect employee safety before any other concerns like potential loss of revenue.
He said council should 鈥渆nsure any circumstances that present that level of risk should be dealt with by the RCMP鈥�.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel we have a hole to fill,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 see this community operating under a full force of new CPO officers, the new designation.鈥�
In previous meetings, licensing and enforcement manager Neil Jones said dealing with the public also poses a level of risk.
Mayor Richard Ireland said that for him, this has all been about addressing risk to municipal employees.
He said: 鈥淎re we going to say we don鈥檛 want any community peace officers, just municipal compliance officers and be heedless of the risk? That, to me, is the question.
鈥淚f we ask them to do something there is a risk and we have to address that risk.鈥�
Council will have a separate workshop to talk about what should be enforced in town, and by whom, and from that determine what a safe work practice would be.
