It has been just over a week since the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit region came out of the Stay-At-Home order as our area now sits in Red according to the province's colour code framework.
That transition from grey to red has not been a big one for the North Bay Police Service. They are still dealing with COVID-19 violation complaint calls.
"We do follow up with most of the calls that are made in regards to people reporting COVID-19 violations within the community," said Scott Tod, North Bay's Police Chief.
Tod says they have been able to utilize a special constable to help deal with those complaint calls.
"We assign many of the calls for service under the provincial statute of the COVID-19 enforcement to our special constables that are quickly able to go out and check whether there is a legitimacy to the call and to determine whether or not a uniform officer should be called to take enforcement," explained Tod.
From what the Chief has seen, North Bay is following the rules coming out of the shutdown.
"I do believe the vast majority of the citizens in our community are following the COVID-19 restrictions and supportive of our efforts and public health efforts," said Tod.
"Entering into the red zone for us is simply understanding what the red zone requirements are for the citizens in our community and what opportunities the police have to pass on further information, working with the health unit and also to encourage compliance within the red zone or red area of the COVID-19 restrictions."
Like it or not, Tod believes residents still need to realize the pandemic is not over quite yet.
"Really it is a pandemic, it is an emergency and a public health pandemic we are working in and police services are just doing their very best to work with the public health unit and the citizens in our community to ensure that we are all safe," he said.
