BARRHEAD - County of Barrhead councillors extended the same protection to all its employees as it did to the municipality's community peace officer.
On Sept. 17, councillors unanimously approved the new policy.
County manager Debbie Oyarzun said council first approved a similar policy in June 2023 in preparation for the creation of its Enforcement Services department and the hiring of a community peace officer (CPO).
"It is a way for us to ensure that our CPO doesn't unknowingly visit a dangerous property," she said.
Under the policy, before the CPO visits a property to investigate a complaint, they must check the municipality's database to learn if a known risk is attached to a property.
"[To see if it] has been flagged for aggressive dogs or a belligerent individual, and then take the appropriate steps under the policy," she said. "Whether that be taking a second person, notify dispatch, the RCMP, or whatever the case should be."
Oyarzun also noted that the policy was a requirement of the Alberta Public Security and Emergency Services.
However, after consideration and a recommendation from the county's CPO, Shae Guy, they decided to amend the policy to include all municipal staff.
"We have staff, such as those in public works or agricultural services, that go on properties, and they should be given the same level of protection and certainty," she said.
Guy agreed, noting the policy did not need a lot of reworking to make it applicable to all employees.
He said most of the changes were mostly cosmetic, adding in language to include all employee staff and clarifying responsibilities.
For instance, Guy said they changed the language to clarify that the CPO was responsible for maintaining the county's "Known Risk" property database.
He added that before the creation of the Enforcement Services department and the hiring of CPO, the county manager maintained the database.
However, he said the most pertinent change was the addition of Level caution flags (Level 1, 2 and 3, with 1 being the lowest) in the database, ranking potential risk for call-outs.
"Previously, if I attended a Level 1, 2, or 3 property, I would have to arrange for a call-in when going to a property [that had been flagged]," he said, adding the change now allows the CPO to attend Level 1, without having to call for "back-up."
"As Level 1 is basically, [is a property] where someone has sworn at me," Guy said. "We wanted to make that change as Level 1 is a low-level threat, and as a CPO, it is in our wheelhouse to deal with aggressive or belligerent people while regular staff shouldn't have to deal with that."
Oyarzun interjected, said the change isn't to downplay the risk, saying even for the lower Level 1 flagged properties, the CPO must follow a strict policy of checking in with dispatch before and after the visit.
Guy added the protocol for other county staff when visiting any level of risk-flagged properties, noting that they have to notify their supervisor and the CPO ahead of time.
Another addition added to the policy, he said, was when CPOs could conduct a Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) inquiry, mirroring them to provincial guidelines.
Coun. Ron Kleinfeldt asked what level an aggressive dog would be.
Guy replied it would depend on the level of aggression, saying most likely it would be flagged as Level or Level 2.
Reeve Doug Drozd said it was important that council amend the policy.
"We need to ensure our staff are not at risk of being harmed when they are just doing their departmental work," he said.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
