Alberta Fines Enforcement Program

Bylaw Enforcement Officer patch from City of Delta, BCA Bylaw Enforcement Officer is a law enforcement employee of a municipality, county or regional district, charged with the enforcement of, rules, laws, codes or regulations enacted by local governments. Bylaw Enforcement Officers are often out in the community responding to complaints from the public. They often work closely with local Police, as well as Provincial and Federal authorities.This terminology is commonly used in North America – particularly Canada – and some other countries.

In the Canadian province of, bylaw enforcement officers are generally titled municipal law enforcement officers, and in, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, the term municipal enforcement officer is also used. Under other denominations, this kind of bylaw enforcement exists in several countries around the world. Trigger in pl sql program for armstrong number. Example of a bylaw officer employed to do stratified enforcement as a parking enforcement officer in Toronto, ON, CanadaMunicipalities are under ever-increasing pressure to provide services efficiently and more cost effective, many city governments see bylaw officers as attractive alternatives to police for enforcement of municipal bylaws and less serious issues. Police departments are under increased pressures in everything from staffing and finances, to the requirement to conduct police work within an increasingly complex legal framework brought about by increased litigiousness in society and more onerous limits and guidelines imposed on the police in order to protect individual rights and freedoms. As such, police departments are frequently unable or unwilling to perform duties related to the enforcement of non-criminal statutes or municipal bylaws.Many cities are finding themselves in situations where the police have stopped performing certain duties which they performed in the past.

Failure to regulate certain activities in their municipality then creates problems and generates complaints and public frustration. This commonly results in the relegation of this task to Bylaw Enforcement Officers.Because the field developed in such an unusual way, essentially to accommodate changes and professionalization of policing, municipal employees of this class began taking on tasks historically performed by police officers, but without any policing powers or protections under the law.

Meter maids initially serviced parking meters, which had been a fairly new phenomenon in North American cities of the 1950s. Eventually, as traffic police officers only rarely enforced parking meter regulation, the cities required meter maids to write parking tickets. By the 1970s, most large municipalities had meter maids, who, through the course of the 1980s and the 1990s, transformed into parking enforcement officers and were asked to enforce many more regulations than just those pertaining to meters.

In recent history, parking enforcement officers are increasingly taking on other duties, and municipalities are amalgamating specialized enforcement into general duty bylaw enforcement.Because changes of this sort were unplanned, employees performing various classes of bylaw enforcement (parking, animal control, inspection work) frequently performed a duty of an officer of the law or as a person of authority. Since most bylaw officers were not sworn peace officers (and many are still not), the limits of their authority and exact definition of their powers have occasionally faced challenges.Many provincial and state laws are being changed to help clarify status of non-constabulary bylaw officers. In British Columbia, when the new enabling charter was amended, (called the Community Charter), sections specifically referring to bylaw officers were included, including the power of bylaw officers to enter upon private property and investigate without warrant, something police are unable to do. This article needs additional citations for. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: – ( June 2012) Most bylaw enforcement services are structured in one of the following ways:. General Bylaw Enforcement - where the bylaw enforcement officer is responsible for many different bylaws, such as patrol, vehicle parking and stopping regulations, animal control, building and construction, licensing, noise, zoning and business regulation, and management of public recreation areas.

Specialized trades inspection is still conducted by a skilled trades inspector with experience in the field, such as a building inspector or an electrical or plumbing inspector. In this capacity, the general Bylaw Enforcement Officer is frequently asked to conduct added duties to respond to a problem. Specialized non-uniform services may be added to assist in enforcement duties where a different image is more productive - such as in the enforcement of business regulations. Some cities employ license inspectors for tasks where a 'suit' is more effective than a 'badge.' . General Bylaw Enforcement without animal control - where the officers enforce various regulations, but do not conduct animal control, which is assigned to specialized animal control officers or is contracted out to an outside agency such as the SPCA. Stratified or diversified bylaw enforcement - where different tasks within bylaw enforcement are handled by different classes of employees.

Parking regulations may be enforced by, animal regulations by animal control officers, different classes of inspectors may exist for licensing, property use, signage, garbage and waste, environmental protection/recycling, street use or engineering inspectors, etc. This model is usually employed in larger cities, although it is frequently seen as bureaucratic and inefficient, since workloads may not warrant the employment of so many classes of personnel all for specialized tasks.Peace officer status.

Bylaw enforcement officer patch from City of Coquitlam, BC, CanadaIt is disputed by experts on whether bylaw officers are peace officers as defined by the criminal code of Canada, some lower courts in British Columbia have reached the conclusion that they are but this has not been affirmed by any higher court in that province or elsewhere in canadaToday, all bylaw enforcement officers employed in Canada are de facto peace officers; in numerous provinces, bylaw officers are also de jure peace officers for the purpose of enforcing municipal laws, having been sworn under various police acts. Courts have ruled on several occasions, most recently in 2000 (in R. Turko), that the definition of peace officer under section 2 of the Criminal Code of Canada includes bylaw officers as 'other persons employed for the preservation or maintenance of the public peace or for the service or execution of civil process.' As such, while actually engaged in the execution of their duties, bylaw enforcement officers are peace officers, independent of whether they are sworn or unsworn constables.This was first proven in court in 1973, when two men were charged with obstructing a peace officer, in the Yukon Territory Magistrates Court in R.

Code Enforcement Fines

Vs Jones and Hubert for their part in removing an impounded dog from an animal control van, contrary to the instructions given to them by an animal control officer of the local municipality. This was the first 'peace officer test' before a Canadian federal court to determine whether the definition of peace officer in the Criminal Code of Canada can be extended to bylaw officers, as 'other persons employed for the preservation of peace.' Justice O'Connor ruled that the animal control officer was in fact a peace officer, under the criminal code, but only while in the performance of his duty, and not for the purposes of any activities unrelated to his duties (such as enforcing criminal law). Furthermore, Justice O'Connor highlighted the severity and criminality of obstructing a bylaw officer:'It was submitted to me by the defendants that they should have been charged under a section of the bylaw for hindering the bylaw officer, and not under the Criminal Code. Having concluded that Mr.

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Malloy the bylaw officer was a peace officer for Criminal Code purposes, and having concluded that the charge under s. 118 of the Criminal Code applies now sec. 129, I doubt whether s. 13 of the dog bylaw is intra vires of the council of the City of Whitehorse.

Obstruction of an animal control officer is a matter of criminal law over which the federal government has legislative jurisdiction. In any event it is not for the council of the City of Whitehorse to determine who is a peace officer for the purposes of the Criminal Code. That can only be done by Parliament.'

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Since then, several other court decisions have reaffirmed this ruling: in Moore v R, the Manitoba County Court held that a poundkeeper was a peace officer within the meaning of section 2 of the criminal code. Most recently, in 2000, in R vs Turko, the Provincial Court of British Columbia ruled that Capital Regional District (CRD) bylaw enforcement officers were justified in arresting a person for failing to provide identification while engaged in enforcement of an anti-smoking bylaw, as the latter's refusal to provide identification constituted obstruction of a peace officer (contrary to sec. 129 of the criminal code). 'I conclude,' Judge Ehrcke wrote in the judgment against Mr. Turko, 'based on the duties the officers in this case were exercising that they were peace officers engaged in their duties when they attempted to enforce the bylaw against the accused.

They were maintaining and preserving the public peace.' Turko was convicted of the obstructing of a peace officer and assault on a peace officer.Not only did the Turko decision confirm that bylaw officers were peace officers within the meaning of the criminal code, but it held that a bylaw officer had the powers to detain or arrest a person for failing to identify themselves according to section 129.This was further upheld in Woodward v. Capital Regional District et al. (2005), where two bylaw officers used force, including batons, to arrest a person for obstruction. Hubbard ruled that bylaw officers were justified in arresting a person for failing to provide identification, and in so doing, using whatever reasonable force was necessary to subdue a person.In Alberta, section 555(1) of the Municipal Government Act states that 'A person who is appointed as a bylaw enforcement officer is, in the execution of enforcement duties, responsible for the preservation and maintenance of the public peace'.Section 15(2) of Ontario's Police Services Act R.S.O. 1990, states 'Municipal law enforcement officers are peace officers for the purpose of enforcing municipal by-laws.'

Similar sections exist in most provincial police acts.For bylaw officers, this means that those persons who may be employed as bylaw officers without having been sworn under provincial acts are nonetheless protected under the criminal code definition of peace officer. This has somewhat convoluted the process of legally appointing bylaw officers. In British Columbia, for example, a person may be appointed as a bylaw officer through the Community Charter, which sets out different powers and responsibilities the Province of BC delegates to municipalities. However, the Provincial Police Act, which sets out various rules pertaining to police structure and administration in BC, also provides a mechanism for appointing bylaw officers.It may be a criminal offense of obstruction of justice for a person to provide a false name or fail to provide their name to a bylaw officer if they are to be issued a bylaw ticket as was found by a provincial court judge in British Columbia in which the suspect also physically resisted so this case law may be limited to a certain set of circumstances as occurred in that case. The charter of rights protects the right to remain silent, and any obligation to ID is limited to providing a name and date of birth, there is no law anywhere in Canada that requires civilians to carry or produce photo ID on request to police or bylaw officers unless they are operating a motor vehicleHowever, how far the peace officer status extends to bylaw officers in other contexts is unclear. Some municipalities now use bylaw officers to stop and inspect commercial vehicles and even for non-criminal enforcement of marijuana grow operations. However, although it is clear that sections on obstruction and assault (for their own protection) apply to bylaw officers, it is unclear to what extent other peace officer powers apply to bylaw officers, particularly in cases where the bylaw officer gives direction to party that disobeys (i.e.

The bylaw officer attempts to pull over a vehicle which intentionally fails to stop or gives lawful instructions to someone who then disobeys that instruction). It is also unclear to what extent peace officer status applies to non-proprietary (contract) employees, such as those employed by a security company on contract to a municipality.Alberta In the Canadian province of, municipalities can appoint bylaw enforcement officers under the authority of section 555 and 556 of the Municipal Government Act. There is a common misconception that all bylaw officers are. However, a person appointed as a community peace officer can only enforce provincial acts and regulations. A community peace officer is not authorized to enforce municipal bylaws unless they are also appointed under the authority of the Municipal Government Act, or if the specific bylaw states it can be enforced by a community peace officer working for that municipality.

There are a number of municipalities in Alberta whose officers enforce only municipal bylaws as bylaw officers, others that only enforce provincial acts as community peace officers, and others that hold dual municipal and provincial appointments. September 13, 2012.

Canada, Supreme Court of (January 1, 2001). Scc-csc.lexum.com. Bylaw Enforcement Officer ProgramReview (JIBC). Criminal Code of Canada, sec. Vs Jones 1975 5 W.W.R.

197. Moore v R 1975 5 W.W.R. Turko (Victoria: 2000). R. Turko Items 1, 2 & 3.

Woodward v. Capital Regional District et al.

(2005) BCPC: Victoria Registry. R.S.O. 15 (2); 1997, c. 264, Community Charter Act of BC. BC Police Act, Section 70:. R.

Turko; Woodward v. Capital Regional District.

Don't drive? Then don't pay that bylaw ticket (CBC). Martell, Curt. West Vancouver Police Department.

Survey of Bylaw Officer duties. Archived from on 2008-06-05.

Retrieved 2009-07-08. CS1 maint: archived copy as title. ^ May 19, Lori Culbert Updated; 2017 (24 November 2001). Archived from on 2012-11-06. Retrieved 2009-07-08. CS1 maint: archived copy as title.

Arkinstall v. City of Surrey.

^. Archived from on 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2008-11-13. CS1 maint: archived copy as title. Deutsche Anwaltauskunft. Amsterdam.nl.External links Canada.United States.Australia.

Specified penaltiesThe Alberta Utilities Commission ensures Alberta's energy service providers are accountable for the services they provide, how they deliver those services and how they interact with customerEffective January 1, 2019, the AUC can levy fines and issue public notices when electricity or natural gas service providers contravene AUC rules on utility billing, complaint response and other areas. The AUC considers and weighs the circumstances of each situation.The AUC can address pre-defined rule contraventions through a series of set fines called specified penalties. These are financial penalties or fines that are applied when the AUC concludes contraventions have occurred and a penalty is required. They are comparable to speeding tickets, or parking tickets.

These financial penalties increase as the frequency of the contraventions increase. No lengthy proceeding is required. The AUC can issue specified penalties escalating from $500 per incident, per day.Service guarantee requires a credit of $150 to customers erroneously disconnected or referred to a credit agency.The AUC has a range of enforcement tools.

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Completely separate from specified penalties, the AUC can also issue, after a formal, evidence-based proceeding, administrative penalties that can range up to $1 million per incident per day. The AUC specified penalties ruleThe AUC set out how specified penalties will be applied in its.

This rule includes factors the AUC will consider when determining specified penalties that include self-reporting by energy service providers. AUC Rule 032 also includes a penalties table outlining the dollar amount charged to energy service providers for each penalty.The AUC was given the power to levy specified penalties for contraventions of its rules, orders and decisions through.

It intends to develop and apply specified penalties for many areas of its regulatory oversight.On July 19, 2019, The AUC issued Bulletin 2019-12 announcing an updated evaluation process for the assessment of specified penalties for self-reported contraventions. See for more information.Priority 1: Billing errors subject to specified penaltiesBecause of the importance of billing to consumers, the AUC started with setting penalties for contraventions of AUC requirements related to billing-related and customer-care matters.

These requirements are set out in. These service providers provide electricity and natural gas in Alberta.AUC Rule 003 service guaranteeAlong with specified penalties, all Alberta energy service providers are subject to a service guarantee that requires them to provide a credit of $150 to customers that are erroneously disconnected or referred to a credit agency. This includes retailers, rural electrification associations and municipally owned utilities. Service providers regulated by the AUC must include this information in their terms and conditions.Technical requirements subject to specified penaltiesThe AUC sets out technical requirements for utility providers for enrolling and de-enrolling a customer and requirements on transmitting updated information to and from distributors. There are contained infor electric service providers, andfor natural gas service providers.Contraventions of these requirements are also subject to specified penalties, based on the same frequency and penalty schedule shown above.Further application of specified penalties is underway or planned.Think a contravention has occurred?If you believe your utility provider may have contravened an AUC rule on billing or other matters covered by a specified penalty:. You should first contact the energy service provider that issued your bill.If the response isn't satisfactory, please contact the(UCA).