In an effort to address concerns about loitering and homeless encampments on private property, officials with the Town of Edson have decided to launch the AGENT program.
The AGENT program is a partnership between Edson Enforcement Services and local businesses which allows RCMP and Edson Peace Officers to act on behalf of participating businesses to remove individuals or groups deemed to be disruptive or who may pose a risk to public safety.
Previously, RCMP and Peace Officers only had the authority to remove such individuals from public property; now, officers have the authority to remove such individuals from private property without first receiving a complaint.
Edson Mayor Kevin Zahara says this program allows RCMP and Peace Officers to act as “agents” of participating business who can then address issues as they come across them instead of waiting for official complaints.
“On private property in order for police to do something they need a complaint and a warrant to remove somebody,” says Zahara. “Being an agent of that property owner, they no longer require that as part of their legal process.”
The Mayor also hopes this program will lead to less cleanup costs for local businesses.
“It gives the police one more tool in their toolbox to deal with things like encampments that we’ve been seeing popping up around town and hopefully deal with those issues sooner rather than later and reduce the cost for business owners that may have to clean up those encampments afterward.”
Edson is one of the first rural communities to adopt the AGENT program to address concerns around homelessness and loitering.
“The AGENT program is not widely used in rural communities which is probably why we weren’t aware of it before,”Zahara explains. “I believe we are one of the first rural communities to implement the AGENT program.”
This program has seen success in larger communities such as Grande Prairie and Edmonton so Mayor Zahara is confident Edson will see similar results.
“The AGENT program is well known in the City of Edmonton and the City of Grande Prairie has also initiated it along with a few other municipalities,” explains Zahara. “We learned of the program a couple of months ago through the Alberta Municipalities Association.”
While there is no perfect solution to homelessness in Edson, Mayor Zahara says council is continuing to take steps to improve the quality of life for all Edson citizens.
“It’s a very complex issue and municipalities have very limited resources in order to deal with it. We continue to call on higher levels of government to ensure there’s mental health and addiction support.”
The AGENT program officially launched on Tuesday, Nov. 20.
