Town council hears about proposed positive-ticketing program

By Rob Vogt, Local Press Writer

Some time soon tickets could be handed out to youth in Claresholm.

It is part of a positive-ticketing program being proposed by the youth justice committee of southwestern Alberta and the Claresholm and District Chamber of commerce.

Sherry Levesque and Brad Toone of the youth justice committee, and Amanda Zimmer, president of the chamber of commerce, appeared as a delegation at the April 23 meeting of Claresholm town council to discuss what they have in mind.

Levesque explained the youth justice committee is a dedicated group of volunteers committed to supporting young offenders in the criminal justice system. They have been serving their communities for more than 20 years.

Their purpose is to provide meaningful alternatives to court for youths ages 12 to 18 in Claresholm, Stavely and Nanton. Their hope is through their program youth will be held accountable for their actions while being given the opportunity to make amends and find meaningful ways they can contribute to the community.

Toone then invited council to join them. The committee meets the second Tuesday of every month from September to June in the meeting room of the Claresholm General Hospital.

“We’re a small group but we’re really dedicated to help our community,” he said.

Toone then explained they were in front of council to ask their approval to help facilitate with distribution in the positive ticketing program for youth in Claresholm.

Zimmer said each group has provided $400, with an additional $200 from a donation, to create a $1,000 budget for the program.

The idea is for enforcement officials, such as the RCMP and bylaw officers, to hand out tickets to youth when they see them doing something positive for the community.

In turn, those positive tickets can be turned in for gift cards, worth about $5, from local businesses.

The committee and chamber requested the town office be a place for youth to be able to turn in their tickets and redeem them for gift cards. The Local Press downtown would be another place to redeem tickets.

Toone said the tickets reinforce positive behaviour and foster a positive interaction with law enforcement.

They envision a year-long program where the positive ticket program will be on the agendas of the youth justice and chamber meetings. They also plan, if approved, to report back to town council for feedback in six months.

Toone emphasized there is no cost to the town to contribute.

He also said he thinks about 10 tickets a month would be issued, adding the RCMP have not been approached yet because they wanted to see what council said.

Deputy Mayor Lise Schulze asked if any other communities did this.

Toone said the committee has discussed positive ticketing for awhile. Any time they can decrease the fear youth have of law enforcement is good.

They also plan on sponsoring a bursary for a youth who has overcome a lot of adversity.

“I think it’s a pretty good idea,” said Coun. Craig Zimmer of the positive-ticketing program, as long as it is not too much additional work for the town office.

Council does not make decisions on requests from delegations at the same meeting at which the request is made, so the item will be on a future agenda of council.