PSOs step up summer vigilance

PSOs step up summer vigilance

Published on June 5th, 2009

Published on Febuary 12th, 2010

Jessica Murphy 

Westmounters with a penchant for late-night park visits and alcoholic beverages received a flurry of tickets in mid-May, as the City's Public Security officers beefed up their park patrols — giving out 82 fines in all. It was part of Public Security's Operation Summit, a late-spring blitz meant to remind Westmounters early that they can't drink alcohol in their green spaces and that parks are closed to the public nightly between midnight and 5 a.m. Anyone violating the curfew is liable to get a fine ranging from $25 to $50 — or more for repeat offenders. Other activities the park patrol will be targeting include feeding the wildlife, which could cost you between $50 and $100, and letting your dog roam off the leash, which has an especially steep fine of $300. "The park season is starting," Public Security Captain Richard Bourdon told the Examiner. "People are going (to parks, especially Summit Park) more and more." In fact, the City's private security crew hired 13 new people for the summer, including four auxiliary officers and nine new park cadets. "The patrollers are keeping their eyes open," warned Bourdon. Some of the new members of the park patrol are Sabrina Tremblay, Marie-Andrée Gérard, Marie-Christine Baril, Rebecca Corbeil-Décary, Jonathan Houle and Jason Souza.