North Battleford councillor Trent Houk, Battleford mayor Chris Odishaw and others are on the record this week calling for tighter enforcement of laws put in place to protect people and property.
Their voices can be added to many among the residents they have been elected to represent. They say inadequate enforcement is at the root of the problem, but perhaps the whole concept of laws legislating common sense and basic civility might be flawed.
Have you ever tried to get a bylaw enforced? One example would be dogs running at large. As neighbours, everyone tries to be civil, so if they have a concern about a neighbour's pet the first line of action is to speak to them on a one-to-one basis. When that doesn't work, the bylaw enforcement officer gets involved. Over time it is obvious the whole process doesn't work because the dog continues to roam the neighbourhood unimpeded.
Mayor Odishaw's ATV concerns are well founded. Residents in the St. Vital area of Battleford can attest to the casual attitude ATV users, some of them residents of the area, have toward provincial law prohibits their use on anything but private property. The ATVers zoom up and down the alley on their way to the Flats where they can joyously carve up some more pristine riverside terrain or do a couple doughnuts on the soccer pitch on their way to destroy the trails on Finlayson Island..
But do the residents bother phoning the RCMP. Not lately. There was a time when such a call would have prompted a quick response and even impounding of the ATV. A call today won't have the same result. The RCMP have too much "real crime" to deal with and their resources are spread too thin to attend less serious matters.
Houk's concerns led to a discussion of the City's curfew bylaw. Both communities have such bylaws in place, but again enforcement is the issue. Houk went so far as to say the bylaw is useless and he's right. It's another example of a municipality trying to legislate civility and common sense, but such actions end up being just so much window dressing.
The answers to these problems begin at home, and both councils are fighting an uphill battle. If parents aren't responsible enough to know where their children are and what they are doing in the wee hours, no legislation is going to change that. If young ATV owners see their parents - as I have - flouting the law, are they going to act any differently? Not likely.
- Becky Doig, Editor
