NORTH BATTLEFORD — North Battleford city council has agreed to provide funding to the Downtown Business Improvement District (BID) to hire a local security company to patrol downtown.
The initiative is an addition to foot patrols currently undertaken by community safety officers and the Battlefords RCMP.
The city will provide $106,000 including PST for the initiative. This service will be effective until Dec. 31.
"Council put aside some dollars this year for a trial project," said City Manager Randy Patrick during council's meeting on March 30. "It is just to do things in a more friendly, culturally sensitive way, saying, 'hey, maybe you need to move along' or 'can we help you' or whatever. But to really reduce issues in the downtown area and make sure that [if] they see something that they call the right agency that if we have to deal with it through an enforcement practice. They are not another layer of CSOs. They are not another layer of our RCMP."
"What we want to get out of this is we want to get a way of treating people like humans and not in a criminal approach or not in a corrective approach, unless it's absolutely necessary," Patrick added.
The program will focus on de-escalation rather than involvement in criminal matters. When additional law enforcement is required, the security officers will request assistance from Community Safety Officers or the RCMP, said Candace Toma, city public and intergovernmental relations co-ordinator, in her report.
The city will ask for reports from BID to see how the service is operating and how effective it is.
"I think it's something for council to consider for future years, but right now it's a single-year project," said Patrick.
Coun. Kent Lindgren said a similar security program is operating at the North Battleford Library, which has been effective.
"They've had a lot of success at working and supporting people, and de-escalation is a lot of it," he said.
Mayor Kelli Hawtin is optimistic about the program to help the downtown.
"I really appreciate the administration working alongside the BID, that's working alongside the community," she said. "It's not only businesses, but it's community service agencies that are all part of our downtown trying to create a healthier environment for everybody. So I look forward to the trial."
