When a get-together gets too loud in the city, it soon may not be a London police officer telling partiers to keep it down.
Under a newly proposed three-month pilot project, the job of responding to noise complaints would shift from police to city bylaw officers.
Bylaw officer enforcement of noise complaints is common in other cities, including Waterloo and Guelph, and would free up police to respond to more serious calls.
If approved, the pilot project would begin during the final quarter of 2022 and require a manager and a team of eight bylaw officers, half of which would divide their time between parking and noise enforcement. Four new enforcement officers would have to be hired for the project.
"The largest benefit, from a cost and efficiency perspective, is that both noise and parking calls for service have daily peaks and valleys that are offsetting," city staff wrote in a report heading to the community and protective services committee on Tuesday. "When noise complaints peak in the evenings, parking service requests are low; when parking enforcement demands are high, such as for morning school zones, noise complaints are low."
Noise complaints would still be funneled through police dispatchers to determine whether there is a possible criminal element such as domestic assaults or gunfire. They would then be dispatched accordingly with bylaw officers assigned straight forward noise complaints and police given the calls deemed higher risk.
"This protocol is common in many Ontario municipalities. It relieves [the London Police Service] from most occupant noise service calls," city staff said in the report. "The pilot will be monitored, and a determination will be made for a permanent transfer of duties.
Since 2015, London's bylaw officers have handled all noise complaints that come in between 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays - the busiest times for such calls, while London police respond the rest of the time.
On average, police are called to 2,700 noise complaints per year. Bylaw officers address an average of 1,300 calls annually.