Photo supplied by City of Moncton

The City of Moncton is continuing to hire community safety officers after council decided to double their numbers from nine to 18 this summer.

Fire Chief Conrad Landry, who is also director of community safety, told City Council that four supervisors have been hired, gone through their orientation and will be on the job later this week.

“That’s very significant since it means that now we’re going to have someone accountable and supervising the other community officers 24 hours a day.”

Conrad said it is going to take more time to reach the full complement of 18 officers.

RELATED STORY: Moncton To Hire More Community Safety Officers

Community safety officers can only enforce municipal bylaws and not criminal offences.

City council agreed to double the number of officers in July at a cost of about $1 million which staff warned could require a tax rate increase next year.