Grande Prairie Enforcement Services is encouraging business owners to consider enrolling in the AGENT program to help local officers better enforce trespassing laws.
The AGENT program was introduced in 2018 as a way to grant bylaw, peace, and police officers additional powers to enforce the Trespass to Premises Act and Petty Trespass Act on private properties.
The provincial government implemented a similar system in 2014, being a law that enables police officers to remove individuals they suspect of gang affiliations from licensed properties. GPES says the AGENT program extends that authority by allowing officers to act as “agents” of local businesses to help lay charges and get convictions for trespassers.
“Having information provided to the AGENT program greatly reduces the amount of time an officer needs to spend tracking down a business owner to verify they want someone removed from their property, allowing their business to continue uninterrupted,” Peace Officer Sergeant Bransen Balfour says.
Businesses that choose to participate in the program will receive an AGENT sticker to display at all main entrances, signaling to GPES members that a business is a participant, allowing them to quickly address and remove problem individuals from the premises.
Since it began in Grande Prairie, GPES officials report that 387 businesses have registered for the AGENT program.
Interested businesses can complete the Grande Prairie AGENT form on the city’s website and submit it to the GPES at [email protected] or in person at the GPES front counter.
