The new compliance team will be targeting irresponsible dog owners.
A new roving compliance team being formed to police Canberra’s suburbs will issue on-the-spot fines as part of a crackdown on offences such as illegal dumping, tree damage and dog control breaches.
Minister for City Services Chris Steel said that over the next two months Transport Canberra and City Services would recruit and train staff for the new six-member team, with the program ramping up to full operations in June.
This team will be in addition to the recently boosted Domestic Animal Services, whose staff has doubled to 16, as well as the four-member investigations team which deals with more complex matters.
There will also be a public engagement program to educate the community on what they should and shouldn’t be doing but there will be little leeway for irresponsible dog owners with Mr Steel saying the new team will target them consistently.
“Irresponsible dog owners, illegal dumping, tree damage, verge maintenance, moveable signs and the use of public land will be the focus of the new engagement and compliance program,” he said.
“The new compliance and engagement team will provide extra teeth for the existing licensing and compliance area, if you don’t do the right thing you are at risk of receiving an on-the-spot fine.
“You will see the compliance team out and about for an initial six month period and we will extend the program if it is successful in improving community safety and amenity.”
TCCS will also boost street sweeping by 15 per cent, increase streetlight maintenance crews by 40 per cent, and begin planting more than 400 additional new trees this autumn.
“Canberrans are going to see cleaner streets, a quicker response to streetlight outages, more trees being planted and more waste collection services. Whether you live in Dunlop or Deakin our investments in city services benefit all Canberrans,” Mr Steel said.
He said improved technology, revised crewing and a move to split-shifts meant that crews were operating street-sweepers for longer and with better results, while a new contract means streetlights were more efficient and more reliable.
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