Photo: Contributed

Cpl. Tyrone Wilton speaking to Peachland council on Tuesday.

Every time the RCMP has a shift change, Peachland gets a new sheriff.

“There is one member designated per shift to conduct proactive patrols in Peachland throughout their shift,” said West Kelowna RCMP Staff Sgt. Brendan Dolan in a presentation to Peachland council on Tuesday.

“We dub them the sheriff of Peachland. They come down here and conduct proactive patrols, answer calls for service and ensure there’s visible presence in the community.”

Dolan handed most of his presentation to traffic cop Cpl. Tyrone Wilton, who said his unit patrols Beach Avenue, Highway 97 and Highway 97 C twice a day.

Speed bumps on Beach Avenue have been effective in slowing down traffic, Wilton said.

“Since March 1, there has been 68 contacts, violation tickets and warnings. …That’s out of a total of 272 violation tickets and warnings issued for West Kelowna as a whole. So roughly one fifth has been issued in Peachland,” he said.

“We have seen a reduction ever since you did put up the speed bumps. We’ve seen our speeds drop dramatically.”

The main street has a 30 km/h limit.

“The majority of the time we are targeting people once they hit 50,” said Wilton. “We do see the odd person who fails to stop for a red light [on Highway 97]. We do get the occasional cellphone. People drive right up to us on Beach Avenue with cellphones in their hands, blowing stop signs right in front of us.”

Councillors wondered what police could do about loud motorcycles this summer.

Wilton said that’s a difficult one. Kelowna RCMP have a decibel meter, but West Kelowna doesn’t. However, courts don’t recognize them anyway, he said.

“We did do a bunch of tests with Kelowna about four years ago using a decibel meter and we found that almost every Harley that’s coming out of the shop is over the limit,” said Wilton.

A conviction would have to be a gross violation of noise bylaws and would need a witness, which could be the police officer, Wilton said.

The traffic cops funded by West Kelowna, so they only patrol Beach Avenue, Highway 97 and Highway 97 C because officers must be available to return to West Kelowna on short notice. General duty officers patrol the rest of the municipality.