The notion of imposing a curfew is, at least on paper, an intriguing idea.
A curfew would give the police an extra tool in their belt by being able to ticket people out on the streets past a certain point in an effort to reduce crime, and more specifically, break and enters and theft.
The reasoning behind this is simple. Criminals often use the veil of night to conduct their nefarious activities, and while police may not be able to catch them in the act, you can potentially stop those crimes by preventing people being on the streets in the first place.
If they are out during the late hours, you give the police an opportunity to stop them for being past curfew.
You can see why Town of Barrhead Coun. Ty Assaf suggested administration investigate instituting their own version targeting bicycle riders who are out past a certain time. The reason being a number of thefts believed to been committed late night bike riders.
The question is: would it be effective? The law would only target bike riders, but that’s just forcing criminals to go on foot.
In Alberta, Bruderheim, Taber, Millet, Strathcona County, and Devon have all enacted similar bylaws and it would be interesting to know if what, if any, impact it has on crime.
We suspect not much.
Plus, with any bylaw or law, it has to be enforced.
Law enforcement agencies don’t have enough manpower to enforce the laws on the books now.
As mayor Dave McKenzie said, laws already exist to curtail bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles use at night, such as having proper lights, but the police don’t have the ability to enforce them.
What will adding one more bylaw to the books do to help unless the town is willing to commit more resources to the problem?
Curfew bylaws are largely the municipality’s responsibility. Yes, RCMP does have the authority to enforce most community bylaws, but really when it comes down to it, it falls under the umbrella of the town’s peace officer.
So unless the town is willing to increase the number of peace offers or drastically change our current bylaw officer’s duties, this is really a non-starter.
The better option, in our opinion, is to focus more and put more public resources into programs like Barrhead’s Rural Crime Watch, as well as programs that assist those who commit crimes due to poverty or addiction issues.