Significant increase in bylaw violations downtown

A report from bylaw officers in the downtown area garnered some worrying results.  

At the September 17th city council meeting Fred Crittenden presented a report from the Downtown Bylaw Compliance Team. The report, taken over a four month period, featured a five gallon bucket worth of used needles collected over that time.

This is the amount of syringes found in a 5 gallon bucket; @CityofPG’s Fred Crittenden also adds compliance team found over 570 campers on private property this year compared to only 72 in 2017 | #CityOfPG @mypgnow pic.twitter.com/UNXzBabbWC

— Lady Cole (@Fairladycole) September 18, 2018

The two person team, made up of Denton Johnson and Adrian Hebert, was assembled last May by PG Bylaw Service for a five month pilot project, aimed at “enhancing safety and security” of the downtown and surrounding area.

According to the report, incidents of camping on public and private property grew from 72 to 571 from just last year. The also team cleaned up 54 loads of waste, totaling 3530 kgs of debris and the bucket of syringes.

.@CityofPG releases data of summer-long pilot project known as “Downtown Bylaw Compliance Team;” 2 men collected the pictured waste in homeless-heavy areas of the City since May | #CityOfPG @mypgnow pic.twitter.com/Fut6c9v71i

— Lady Cole (@Fairladycole) September 18, 2018

Since May, the team has dealt with approximately 600 documented contacts and incidents. According to the report, 95% of those interactions were due to the pair’s proactive measures.

Mayor Lyn Hall said he wasn’t shocked by the report.

“We hear constantly from folks downtown we hear from our staff about the work we do down there. I wasn’t surprised by the photos or the information we got in our report.”

As to why there was such a drastic increase in bylaw service calls this year, Hall said it was partly that the bylaw team was tasked to find more, but also that there are more people in the downtown area.

“We’ve been told by the RCMP that some of the folks who came from the 2017 wildfire evacuation process from other communities have stayed. I think it also comes with the fact that we are a northern hub. If you’re missing services in another community, you come to Prince George to find those services,” said Hall.   

Crittenden said the Bylaw Service was looking into extending the program, which is set to end in October.