(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

Despite plans to move Kamloops bylaw officers to a 24-hour model more than a year ago, the City is set to consider another budget boost to do just that.

City staff are looking for nearly $900,000 in tax dollars to fund more than a half-dozen new bylaw officers, according to a City report.

Community service officers (formerly bylaw officers) were expected to shift to a 24/7 rotation in September 2021, but the City has continued to supplement its lack of officers by contracting security companies instead, according to the report.

There's currently 20 full-time officers, two crew leaders and 5.3 part-time positions, who work a combined 16 hours per day. The remaining eight overnight hours are dedicated to contracted security companies in business areas.

In 2021, City council approved a $265,000 boost to the department's budget to fund 2.8 full-time positions. At the time the time of the March approval, it was billed as the added personnel needed to start 24-hour patrols that fall.

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In the past two years, the Kamloops bylaw department had a steep increase in service calls, which the staff report blames for the continued 16-hour service.

"The increase in calls is attributable to residents being more aware of the Community Services Officer program and rising social issues becoming more prevalent," the report reads. "Community Services Officers will be available for 16 hours per day, 7 days a week and security will supplement this contingent in the overnight hours."

Bylaw calls have nearly doubled since 2018, increasing from about 9,400 to 17,000 in 2022. Last year, roughly 7,000 of those calls were "social-related" calls from street issues.

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There may have been a brief period when the department moved to a 24-hour service, mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson told iNFOnews.ca, but it isn't currently.

The community service officer program was implemented to support Kamloops RCMP with increasing service calls related to social issues and homelessness, adding mental health and de-escalation training for the officers.

It hasn't come without controversy.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees, of which the bylaw officers are a member of, is still waiting for an arbitration decision after challenging the City's move to revamp its bylaw department.

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Previous mayor Ken Christian, however, praised the move. They now work more closely with Kamloops RCMP and he said it's helped address some of the issues on Kamloops streets.

“I feel it’s been really effective. If we didn’t have it, we would be in much worse shape than we are now," Christian told iNFOnews.ca ahead of the October election.

City council is set to discuss whether the funding request at a committee of the whole meeting next week, which could convert 5.3 part-time positions into full-time and add 6.7 more with $888,000 the first year.

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