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THURSDAY, June 11, 2026
1
Boost bylaw enforcement: RCMP Body cams, 24-hour schedule would address disorder, says superintendent COLIN SLARK Citizen Staff
Prince George’s top police officer recommended to city council that bylaw officers both operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and carry body-worn cameras at a Monday, June 8, meeting. In previous years, Supt. Darin Rappel gave a single annual update to Prince George city council on operations at the local RCMP detachment, except when invited for specific reasons. This January, he was asked to provide regular updates twice a year. With 2026 almost half over, he came to city hall on June 8 with copies of his presentation slides attached in advance to the
CITIZEN FILE PHOTO
Two City of Prince George bylaw officers patrol the downtown area in this file photo.
meeting agenda. “Overnight sheltering and the obstruction of sidewalks is a significant driver of the social disorder issues downtown,” one of the slides said. “Many persons that are sheltering overnight are the same people making recreational fires.”
In many of these cases, Rappel said, people are unwilling to act as witnesses or report crimes. People associated with social disorder issues are frequently involved in assaults and are unco-operative with police. Though he didn’t name them, Rappel said some social-service agencies are
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actively working against police by providing people with hoses they put up their sleeves to obscure their drug use. He tied this to an increased number of overdose responses by paramedics. Since late April, Rappel wrote, the RCMP’s downtown safety unit has been meeting with bylaw officers each morning to remove overnight shelters and clear sidewalk obstructions. Both police officers and bylaw officers, he said, “have observed an increase in belligerence, defiance and criminal obstruction toward bylaw officers.” This has led police to arrest people obstructing bylaw officers. “When bylaws go off shift, the tents go up,” Rappel wrote. “The work then starts all over again at 7 a.m.” Though there has been some success in working with bylaw officers to tackle some issues, Rappel said this has led to some problems being displaced outside the downtown core. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE