KAMLOOPS — 95 per cent of the alarm calls Kamloops RCMP respond to are false.
At a workshop this morning, Kamloops council took steps to change that, moving forward on bylaw changes that would result in stiffer fines for false alarms.
In certain cases of repeat false calls, officers will simply stop responding.
Councillor Ken Christian says this will allow the local detachment to better focus its time.
“We’ve sat here and said, we want more presence on the street, we want patrolled officers walking the downtown. We’ve said we want gang intervention, we want impaired driving to be monitored more stringently, we can do that with the additional 600 hours we’re talking about recouping from making these changes,” says Councillor Ken Christian.
Not everyone was on board, with Councillor Denis Walsh saying a $1000 fine for a third offence within a calendar year would cripple a small business.
The bylaw changes will still need to be approved at a regular council meeting.
