Mayor Christian proposes amalgamation of law enforcement committees

Oct 20, 2017 | 4:39 PM

KAMLOOPS — Newly-coronated Mayor Ken Christian is already putting his stamp on City of Kamloops operations.

Christian is proposing an amalgamation of the city’s Police Committee and Co-ordinated Enforcement Task Force (CETF).

The Police Committee is more long-standing and deals with the relationship between the city and local RCMP detachments.

CETF was struck in 2009 to bring social and community agencies into the conversation around law enforcement issues.

The two committees meet monthly on the same day, in the same location, and in consecutive time slots.

Christian says they have come to include the same participants going over the same pieces of information.

“I’ve attended both, and essentially, it’s the same information that’s dealt with at each committee. It’s just two different audiences. So to me, if we can combine the audiences and provide an active report in terms of policing and how other agencies can connect into that effort, it would be time better spent,” said Christian.

“It’s certainly not a question of getting rid of (CETF); I think it’s been very successful. I just see that, over time, the information that both of those committees deals with is essentially exactly the same information. So to go over it twice in one day doesn’t seem to make much sense.”

The issue was first discussed at the October 17 meeting of council, the first presided over by Mayor Christian.

He says the proposal is meant to free up time for everyone involved.

“It’s the same people. We’ve had active participation from the business associations, the Graffiti Task Force, our bylaw services, ASK Wellness, some of the social agencies in town. I think that their input is valued and would continue,” said Christian.

“There is a fair bit of redundancy. From what I’ve seen having served on both of those committees, I was always curious as to why we separated them. I thought there might have been some statutory reason, and I have asked our corporate officer. She has assured me that no, they just sort of evolved over time.”

If council agrees to the amalgamation, Christian hopes it might start a similar conversation involving other City of Kamloops committees.

“I also am going to ask council to direct administration to see if there are other committees that could possibly be amalgamated or better co-ordinated so that we can use the time of our council and the time of our directors more efficiently.”