LAC LA BICHE - Lac La Biche County Peace Officers (CPO) have yet to write any COVID-19 non-compliance tickets.
There have been complaints investigated, says Chris Clark, Lac La Biche County’s manager of Enforcement Services … but this far into the latest round of heightened coronavirus measures implemented by the province, there have been no tickets issued.
Education is key
The municipal officers have been tasked to take care of COVID-19 complaints from the public in regards to members not following the virus protocols and measures, but through education, Chris Clark, manager of enforcement services, says that the public has been responding well.
“With all of our complaints so far, we’ve had good compliance from the public, so we haven’t had to write any tickets,” said Clark. “We have been heavily focusing on education as the first thing that we do, and it is paying off.”
The focus for 2021
Going into the new year, peace officers want residents to continue to follow the pandemic restrictions and protocols set in place. But Clark said the pandemic is only one part of a busy workload for local officers. He says officers will continue to provide education roles for the public when it comes to municipal activities like driving, neighbourhood safety and municipal bylaws. For the next few weeks, Clark says winter driving enforcement will be a big part of the daily schedule. With snow, comes slush, and with cold weather, comes ice, so people need to be cautious while on the roads, he said.
“We just want people to make sure that they’re just being safe while they are out and about as well,” said Clark. “We want to make sure people are abiding by the speed limits, and as with January, we usually have deteriorating road conditions, so we want people to reduce their speed when the road conditions are not as safe.”
