Greater Sudbury approved funding make security bylaw pilot program permanent

A successful pilot project involving bylaw officers will soon become a permanent level of service in Greater Sudbury.

For the past year extra bylaw officers provided enhanced security at downtown facilities, including Memorial Park and the transit terminal.

During recent budget deliberations, $192,000 was approved for municipal law enforcement officers (MLEOs). It will mean the pilot program will become a permanent level of service.

Once the 2022 budget is approved, officers will be hired to work between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 a.m. 365 days a year.

"During that time they're doing proactive and reactive responses to parks, Sudbury housing operations, transit, as well as all of our City of Greater Sudbury facilities," said Stefany Mussan, the city's general manager of corporate security and bylaw services.

Along with regular patrols, the MLEOs will respond to complaints called in from citizens and city staff.

According to Mussan, the trial period, which started in December 2020, showed there was a need for enhanced security in municipal parks, on transit buses and at city-owned housing facilities.

"The pilot project was brought in to kind of mitigate a gap between what contracted security is able to provide service-wide and what might be a priority for Greater Sudbury Police Service to be able to respond to in a timely manner," she said.

"I've seen it in person, I've seen these transit officers deal with challenging situations in the terminal, and they're resolved peacefully," said Brendan Adair, the city's director of transit services. Adair is also the city staffer who helped develop the pilot project, in his former role as general manager of corporate security and bylaw services.. 

The bylaw officers who were part of the pilot spent time on transit buses providing support for riders and bus operators.

"The feedback that I've got from bus operators is overwhelming; it's an aspect of the service that they truly need, that gives them some reassurance and creates a perception of safety within transit," said Adair.

In his role of bringing the program forward , Adair said he also heard about success the pilot has had around municipal housing, in parks and at city facilities.

"This team has been instrumental in providing a response when we're talking about encampments [at Memorial Park], again the level of respect and support is instrumental," he said. 

'Invaluable' service

"They do bring more safety to our most vulnerable population in the encampments, and they do have a great work ethic, and a lot of respect for people," said Coun. Bill Leduc.

"This is a program that I wouldn't want to see us do without," said Coun. Robert Kirwan, who is part of the Transit Task Force.

"I think they have been an invaluable service, and it's been quite something to see the evolution of this program," he added.

Although the bylaw officers who were part of the pilot project did focus patrols in Memorial Park downtown, Mussan said the new MLEOs could respond to complaint calls at any municipal park in Greater Sudbury.

During the budget deliberations on Dec. 7, councillors heard that it will cost $450,000 a year to make the pilot project a permanent level of service.

In addition to the $192,000 council approved for the program through a business case, other city departments are contributing to make the pilot program a permanent fixture. Those contributions include $200,000 from housing, $25,000 from transit services and $25,000 from leisure services.

The city will post the jobs for the permanent municipal law enforcement officers, once the 2022 budget is finalized and approved by city council.