INUVIK
The Inuvik Bylaw Department is riding in style these days.

The Inuvik Bylaw Department's Const. Adam Fortier is about to get behind the wheel of the town's new state-of-the-art vehicle, which arrived just a week ago. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

After months of frustration, the two bylaw officers – Const. Sean Cairns and Const. Adam Fortier – have traded their former official vehicle in for a new truck loaded with state-of-the-art technology.

Jim Sawkins, the head of the town's Protective Services Department, said the plans for a new vehicle had been in the works for quite a while.

Sawkins said $80,000 had been budgeted for the vehicle, but it came in under that figure.

At the official unveiling of the truck, Sawkins said he didn't have the exact figure but believed it was somewhere in the “$70,000s.”

“Everything was sourced separately,” said Sawkins.

The old truck had been plagued with equipment and mechanical problems for some time, and there was an urgent need to update it for the two constables, he said.

“The vehicle we had was pretty outdated,” Fortier said. “It was hard to see at nighttime, and even harder to see in daytime. This vehicle has better technology and helps create a better level of service for the community.”

“Everything on this truck is done to standard,” Sawkins added, comparing it to the same kind of uniform equipment and vehicle standards that the town's fire trucks or the RCMP vehicles need to adhere to. That includes proper emergency lighting.

“We have a laptop in this one, so it allows us to do our reporting, the same way the RCMP have. We have the same system,” said Fortier. “We're able to search for people's drivers licences, addresses, previous convictions and suspensions. In the old vehicle, we never had that ability, and we'd found out afterwards, whether the next day or the next week.”

As well, the truck has a certified weapons rack to hold a tranquilizer gun and a shotgun, something the other truck did not.

As peace officers, Fortier and Sawkins explained, the bylaw constables are permitted to carry and use weapons.

“The problem in the past is that they didn't have the proper means to transport the weapons in the old vehicle,” said Sawkins. “It was a small vehicle. So they'd have to come back to the lockup, sign out the weapon, and proceed out to the location. Half the time the dogs were gone by the time they got back out.”

The shotgun, Fortier added, is to be used only as a last resort.

“Now we can just deal with the dog right away,” he said.

The truck also has a secure partition to transport dogs or other animals they pick up, Fortier added.

As well, with changes coming to the liquor act this summer giving bylaw officers increased enforcement powers, he said, it can also be used to transport impaired people as necessary.

The truck also features cutting-edge radar equipment to measure the speed of vehicles, and a dash-mounted camera to record the constables' interaction with the public. New RCMP vehicles are being equipped with the same system.

“That'll be for evidence purposes and for other reasons, including complaints.”

Where the old truck was fire-engine red, the new vehicle is white with trim similar to that of the official RCMP vehicles.

While that didn't sit well with a few members of council, Sawkins said it was intended to reinforce to the public the notion that bylaw officers are official police officers who often work with the RCMP.