Year in review: City pursues back alley bylaw

He told council he was responding to requests from residents asking for something to be done to curb the city’s high property crime rates.

“[The bylaw] gives the police increased authority to stop people and say ‘What are you doing here, can I see your ID?’ otherwise they just laugh at them, they laugh at the police and take off,” Zurakowski told the meeting.

Zurakowski’s idea met with broad support from his colleagues, but Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp said she worried it would lead to racial profiling and an erosion of trust between marginalized communities and the police.

“There is a lot of racism in the city of Prince Albert, let’s call a spade a spade,” she said.

Councillors also began to talk through logistical concerns. The bylaw would need to include exceptions for residents who use the alley to access their property.

A graphic shows back alleys that would be restricted under a proposed bylaw. Lanes in residential zones are shown in blue while lanes in commercial/industrial zones are red. (council agenda/City of P.A.)

Cost of the curfew

Less than two months later, the issue was back on the council agenda. A document prepared by city staff reported the potential bylaw would be the first of its kind in Canada and come with a $150,000 price tag.

Prince Albert already has a bylaw restricting access to public parks at night. For legal reasons the entrances to parks are sign-posted and staff told council the same would have to be done for each of the city’s approximately 500 back alleys and walkways. The cost of the 1,133 signs required would be $150,518. That amount was later reduced.

Police union responds

Two days after the news of the cost broke, the president of the P.A. Police Union spoke out against the proposed bylaw.

Darry Hickie told paNOW the potential curfew could violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the money required for signage would be better spent on more front-line officers.

“Just randomly talking to people in the course of our duty – we do public relations – but if I confront somebody and I don’t have any reasonable grounds to believe that a criminal act has taken place, that’s where it gets very dicey and we’ve seen the carding issue come up where people have been profiled,” he said.

Cost reduced as next steps fleshed out

By November city administration had produced another report. Instead of signposting all of P.A.’s walkways and back alleys, city staff now said the same could be accomplished by erecting large signs at city entrances and several smaller signs at key locations throughout Prince Albert. The drastic reduction in signage brought the estimated cost down to $20,000.

Legal considerations were also fleshed out. The existing bylaw that prohibits access to city parks at night could be extended to include public walkways. But restricting access to back alleys would prove more complicated.

Back alleys, like city streets are the jurisdiction of the province, not municipalities.

Craig Guidinger, director of planning and development, told council city administration was in discussions with the provincial government on the issue. He said the province indicated it would be unlikely to block the city’s bylaw, but it reserved that right.

Guidinger recommended the city carry out public consultation with a specific focus on what has become one of the thornier aspects of the potential bylaw: Who will be allowed in the restricted areas and under what circumstances.

A legal perspective

In early December, a Prince Albert raised criminal justice professor outlined various legal concerns raised by the proposed bylaw in a conversation with paNOW.

According to Kevin Walby, associate professor at the University of Winnipeg, if passed, the bylaw would likely be challenged in court.

From a legal perspective, Walby explained the proposed bylaw runs up against the principle of reasonableness at the core of police powers and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

For example, officers must have a reasonable belief that someone has been involved in a crime in order to stop them. Similarly, limits placed on Charter rights must be “reasonable” and tightly focused.

“Just because someone’s walking into a back alley does not give [the police] that sense of probability. And therefore if they intervene in somebody entering a back alley, I just don’t see how it will be deemed as reasonable under section eight, nine and 10 of the Charter,” Walby said.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom

by Alison Sandstrom

Year in review: City pursues back alley bylaw

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