Vernon bylaw compliance and crime prevention staff (photo / City of Vernon)

By Kevin Rothwell

First decrease in five years

Vernon bylaw complaints down in 2020

Mar 9, 2021 | 5:15 AM

Bylaw files in the City of Vernon dropped from nearly 6,800 in 2019, to just over 6,100 last year, a 9.2 per cent decrease.

The drop followed four straight years of increases of at least 11 per cent.

COVID-19 regulations had a direct impact on complaint levels.

“The primary contributing factors affecting the decrease in total volume of complaints includes a 21.3 per cent decrease (3050 to 2400) in parks and public places complaints and a 25 per cent decrease (3445 to 2583) with respect to complaints regarding the street entrenched population target analysis (SEPTA),” Manager of Protective Services, Darren Lees, told Vernon council on Monday.

There were also multiple inquires to clarify ongoing changes to provincial public health orders.

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Bylaw officers investigated 152 COVID-19 calls for service. These investigations related to potential violations of provincial health orders and required officers to liaise with Interior Health, WorkSafeBC and the RCMP.

Despite a Vernon council move to stop enforcement of on-street metered parking from April 1 to July 2, 2020, bylaw still wrote 14,482 parking tickets compared to 14,904 in 2019, less than a three per cent decrease.