A scourge of graffiti taggers and mischief makers in Langford, the City’s bylaw department has been bestowed a Community Excellence award by the Union of British Columbia Municipalities.

Langford’s Community Safety and Policing Support Initiative, with community safety officers (CSOs) as its backbone, is being held up across the province as how to reduce nuisance issues in cities while taking pressure off the police.

“It’s an initiative that serves the public well,” said Coun. Denise Blackwell, chair of protective services. “It’s good to have the (CSOs) out and about at off-hours, so they can stop issues before they start.”

Langford’s CSOs – bylaw enforcement officers on mountain bikes – started patrolling the city in 2006, cracking down on problems such as vandalism, graffiti, noise issues, low-level drug peddling and underaged drinking. They attend briefings with the West Shore RCMP and have established a close working relationship.

“The RCMP doesn’t have time to deal with all issues,” said Lorne Fletcher, Langford’s senior bylaw officer. “There are a lot of local community issues that can be dealt with beefed-up bylaw people available.”

A key part of the effort is having officers visible and patrolling hotspots into the late hours, becoming eyes and ears on the street, said Wayne Brown, a Langford CSO. Most of the time they’re not out issuing tickets but educating youth on the merits of wearing bike helmets, for example, he said.

“We’re on the street on bikes. It’s really the best way of interacting with youth,” Brown said.

In a Langford bylaw report, routine evening patrols were credited with dramatically reducing vandalism at schools and bus shelters, lowering the call volume for the West Shore RCMP and helping cut fire department callouts for traditionally high-volume nights such as Halloween.

“We’re on bikes, we’re very mobile late at night and in direct contact and support of police,” said Phil Williams, Brown’s CSO partner. “We don’t replace the police and we aren’t the police, but at the same time we are augmenting what they are doing.”

The CSOs and the community safety program are also credited with tracking down at least two graffiti vandals that had caused tens of thousands of dollars in damages from spray paint tags. Langford has broken new ground by suiting taggers to recoup cleanup costs.

Fletcher said they get inquires from other municipalities about the community safety program, but expect that to increase with publicity through the UBCM. Langford one of the only, if not the only community in BC with this approach to community safety, he said.

“(Langford) council has paid attention to what is going on,” Fletcher said. “Instead of falling into traditional traps, they have given staff leeway to solve problems, to find ways to solve problems from different angles.”