THUNDER BAY -- Police aren't responding to city bylaw infractions.
Barking dogs, noisy parties and certain other bylaw enforcement was taking up too much time, especially at night when those calls were tying up officers from responding to more serious matters.
Thunder Bay Police Services chief J.P. Levesque said that's the reason the service's annual report shows that officers were dispatched to more than 2,000 calls in 2013 as opposed to last year.
"It's a bit of a waste of police resources," Levesque said Wednesday morning after a police service board meeting.
"It's not an uncommon practice in policing."
Police will instead refer those calls to the city's bylaw enforcement office.
The annual report also shows that while the number of homicides were a record-high of 11 last year, violent crimes in general were down by almost 70 last year over 2013. Total property crimes were up by more than 170. Other offences, from bail violations to prostitution, were down 60 last year over 2013.
J.P. Levesque said while he respects Statistics Canada's crime severity index, which put the city as the most violent in Canada last year, the raw data looks a lot different when the number of cases are considered.
