Raucous student parties targeted as Fredericton police look for fines to double
CBC
Fredericton Police Chief Martin Gaudet hopes heftier fines will help reduce the occurrence of large and sometimes destructive parties that have irked neighbours and required help from police and firefighters.
Councillors on Monday night voted to direct staff to repeal its current bylaw to "prevent nuisances" and replace it with a new bylaw that includes provisions specifically dealing with "nuisance parties."
City staff will now be tasked with drafting a new bylaw, and Gaudet said the intention is to increase the fines it carries from $250 to at least $500, with the possibility of that climbing to $1,500 for repeat offenders and those who fail to pay it on time.
"That's for the individual setting up the party, or promoting the party or selling booze for the party," Gaudet told reporters after the council meeting.
Gaudet said large noisy parties near the campuses of the University of New Brunswick and St. Thomas University have been a concern for first responders and residents for years.
"However, the dramatic increase in size and scope, level of defiance, hostility and frequency… has increased dramatically and requires a new approach to an old yet ever-increasing problem before it becomes completely untenable."
Asked what the bylaw would allow officers to do that they can't already, Gaudet said the hope is the higher fine will deter planners and attendees from letting parties get out of hand in the first place.
"Should we put our officers at risk to try to break up a party? It's poor use of resources," Gaudet said.
"There are people in this community who require police assistance for assaults, domestic violence. We can take impaired drivers off the road, we can respond to very serious crimes, but yet I have to send resources to parties for individuals who choose to make poor decisions."
The issue of large disruptive parties off-campus hasn't gone unnoticed by university administration.
UNB president Paul Mazerolle earlier this month said the school was working with the city to end the tradition of furniture being burned on streets at the end of the academic year. He said the university also planned to host events on campus, where students can access alcohol and party safely.
Kathy Wilson, UNB's vice-president academic, who attended Monday night's meeting, said the university is looking at what other schools have been doing to combat the same problem.
She said ahead of what's known as "last-class bash" earlier this month, senior administrators and police officers did a walk-around of the off-campus neighbourhood.
"We didn't have that many incidents. I don't know that the walk-around made a huge impact but I think it signaled that we're not interested in this, and we won't support it," Wilson said.
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