Vernon’s Bylaw calls down,working more closely with RCMP

Jan 27, 2026 | 4:39 PM

Bylaw Services had fewer calls for service in 2025 than the year before, but are doing more work to address issued in the community. However, the mayor said it’s too early to suggest a declining trend in the stats.

A report from Vernon’s Bylaw Services said calls were down by almost 15 per cent on an annual basis during the most recent reporting year.

“Bylaw compliance’s total calls for service in the BIA (Business Improvement Area / downtown core) were 763 in 2025, down from 895 in 2024,” Darren Lees, Vernon’s Manager of Protective Services, told Vernon City Council at the regular meeting Monday, Jan. 26.

“That’s a 14.7 per cent decrease.

“Just to build on that a little bit, of the 763 calls for service in the downtown business improvement area, 386 calls were related to the unhoused population, and that’s a 12 per cent decrease from 2024.”

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A full report detailing bylaw’s calls for services in 2025 will be presented at a future meeting, but Lees said the most common calls for service in the past year had to do with temporary shelters in parks or public spaces; consuming or possessing alcohol in public places; smoking in public places such as parks, lake access points and transit stops; noise; panhandling; and private property maintenance.

While calls were down, the local bylaw officers have increased their duties by working with Vernon North Okanagan RCMP on joint patrols.

“[The proactive joint patrols see] bylaw officers and RCMP members conduct collaborative foot patrols of the downtown core or business improvement area, and adjacent parks,” Lees stated.

“This approach allows emergent issues to be directly addressed at the time by either agency.”

Bylaw and RCMP have conducted 10 joint patrols since launching the operation in November, and Lees said there have been benefits in the form of fostering safety and transparency, and demonstrating responsiveness to community concerns. The joint patrols also ensure the officers have back-up in the event that a situation is escalated, and makes it so action can be taken to address both criminal or municipal issues in real time.

The law enforcement agencies also encouraged people to report bylaw complaints and criminal activities, as they generate data that can be used to identify problem areas and repeat offenders.

Though bylaw’s calls for service declined in 2025, the Mayor of Vernon said it was not an indication of a larger change within the community.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a trend, but it is good that it’s going down a little bit,” Mayor Victor Cumming told Vernon Matters following Monday’s meeting.

“Two or three years out, if it shows a trend, I’ll be the first to celebrate.”

The Mayor also said he was pleased to see RCMP and Bylaw working together on the joint patrols.

“It’s really good to have them together, really good to to have them out doing patrols together, obviously administratively they connect all the time and when they’re on duty they’re back and forth in terms of making contact with each other, but it’s really good to have a consistent patrol together,” Cumming said.

“It’s really good for the public, good for them, good for the team building. Just a number of really good reasons to do that jointly.”

The joint patrol operations will be maintained in the near future.

by Liam Verster

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