Foothills Peace Officers have the authority to enforce all County Bylaws. The primary goal for Bylaw Enforcement is to ensure compliance with County Bylaws by working collaboratively with our residents, businesses, and visitors.
How to lodge a complaint:
If you have a bylaw complaint or have witnessed or know of a bylaw infraction, please contact our complaint line at 403-603-6300 or email your complaint to Enforcement@foothillscountyab.ca.
Please note: The County does not accept anonymous complaints.
- When you make the complaint, we will ask you your full name and address, and a phone number where we can reach you at home, at work and/or on cell. (This information is kept confidential.)
- Please be prepared to provide the following information:
- Details relating to the bylaw complaint / infraction you are calling about, including the names of all involved (if known), date(s) of occurrence, day(s) of week, month, year and time(s) the event or activity occurred
- The address or location where the event occurred
- What you saw or heard, providing as much detail as possible and be prepared to collect and report further information. For example, if you are reporting a barking dog, we will ask you to start a log to record dates and times and to identify the dog.
- The action you wish taken in relation to your concern.
- The Peace Officer assigned to your complaint will take action based on your wishes in concert with the evidence available. Insufficient evidence would result in no prosecution. In such instances, a warning may be issued.
- Your complaint, along with all the information you provide will be kept on file and assigned to a Peace Officer, who will keep the complaint file open until the matter is resolved
- During the course of an investigation, you may be asked to provide a written statement of what you observed. You may also be asked if you would be willing to testify in court. Your testimony would be essential if you want to have a charge laid where a Peace Officer has not personally witnessed the infraction. If you are not willing to provide a statement or testify in court, a charge will not be laid. In these cases a warning to the offender(s) is the normal course of action, should enough evidence exist to issue a warning.
- At the conclusion of an investigation, the Peace Officer will contact you to let you know what action was taken, or not taken, as well as the final outcome of the file.
Bylaw Enforcement Process
- Once Enforcement Services receives a complaint, a Peace Officer is dispatched to make contact with the person in question.
- Complaints are responded to on a priority and available staffing basis. Response time will depend on availability of personnel at the time of the call, and the priority of the complaint compared with other calls received by the unit.
- If the complaint is not urgent, we may ask for assistance. For example, if a stray dog has been found and a Peace Officer is not available, we may ask the complainant to
- The Peace Officer assigned to the complaint will take action based on the complainant wishes in concert with the evidence available. Insufficient evidence will result in no prosecution. In such instances, a warning may be issued.
- If the Peace Officer finds evidence of a Bylaw contravention, the Officer may take the following steps:
- Provide education / issue a verbal warning to adhere to the Bylaw
- This may be accompanied by a grace period to allow for the person(s) to make arrangements to comply with the Bylaw
- The main objective for Bylaw enforcement is compliance with the legislation. Foothills Peace Officers strive to work with subjects of complaint to achieve compliance in a collaborative manner
- If the matter is not resolved during the specified time period, additional enforcement direction and associated actions may be taken or initiated, including the potential issuance of Remedial Orders, Orders to Remedy, Violation Tickets and applications for Court of Queen’s Bench Orders
- Serious or dangerous Bylaw infractions may result in an enforcement – first approach. For example: serious dog attacks and biting incidents will result in immediate enforcement actions, which may include seizure of dogs, issuance of tickets and applications to Courts respecting Dangerous Dogs.
- Should charges be laid, and the evidence you have provided to the Officer through statements or other means is required to prove the charge(s) laid, you will be issued a subpoena to attend Court as a witness for the prosecution. Failure to attend Court to provide necessary evidence to prove the charge before the Court will result in the charges being withdrawn.
