Kamloops City Council is moving forward on a plan to potentially expand the role of the Community Services Officers – or CSO’s – to provide them with potential enforcement powers.

Council has voted in-favor of creating a so-called “Select Committee” – or a narrow-focused group – to investigate the idea of expanding CSO power to provide police with help for those on the streets.

The idea of creating the “Select Committee” is that of Councillor Katie Neustaeter, who argues the CSO’s can help in “the protection and enhancement of the well-being of the community and our current challenges with escalating criminal behavior,” according to her Notice of Motion put forward to Council.

“We should be able to have a tiered program that allows folks who are CSO’s to respond to dog calls, parking tickets…those kinds of things, all the way up to somebody who begins those police files and operates as a junior police [officer],” suggested Neustaeter at the council session on Tuesday.

“That would create a tremendous alleviation of stress on our RCMP.”

The motion to create the “Select Committee” to investigate the logistics of the move to try and eventually have CSOs recognized as peace officers under provincial legislation, did pass, but not without opposition.

Those opposed included councillors Dale Bass and Nancy Bepple, as well as Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson.

“I think there are some experts around that could help us,” argued Hamer-Jackson during the council session. “I don’t know if anyone that’s on that committee is an expert in policing.  So I won’t be supporting it.”

The Mayor argued the issue should be taken up by the council’s Standing Committee structure.

“I know about the crime. I know where it is. I’m just wondering why — because it is going to be a long-term project — and standing committees are a long-term, not short-term. So a select committee is a task force, and short term.”

However, the current Standing Committee structure has been put on-hold right now until their terms of reference can be determined, after the Mayor’s attempt to put members of the public on the committees ran afoul of the rest of Council.

The Mayor’s position on the issue did see some pushback by Neustaeter before the final vote was cast.

“To answer your question about Standing Committees versus Select Committees, I agree. It is tremendously unfortunate that we do not have standing committees. I think that is one of the most unfortunate things that has happened so far in this term [of council] and I look forward to when we’re able to have them again,” countered Neustaeter. “In the meantime, I don’t think that our community’s safety can wait.”

Speaking to RadioNL the day after the vote, Mayor Hamer-Jackson also added that he believes Community Outreach Workers would be a better option for helping in the community.

“Outreach workers, in a lot of cases, are a lot more effective than, whether it be security guards or even CSO’s in a lot of cases.”

The Mayor attempted to have a notice-of-motion passed by council to work with local non-profits to lobby the BC government for the creation of 15 Community Outreach Worker positions within the city to operate on a 24/7 basis.

That notice-of-motion was rejected by the rest of council at the February 28th council meeting.

The new “Select Committee,” which will be chaired by councillor Kelly Hall, and include Neustaeter and councillor Dale Bass, [and councillor Steven Karpuk as an alternate] will not have members of the public on it.

However, it will have full access to the Safe and Secure Kamloops engagement group, which includes police and other experts.