4 golfers ticketed: Police and bylaw call for Hamilton to fight COVID-19 not the rules

David Church was walking through his neighbourhood near Chedoke Civic Golf Course Thursday when suddenly police on bicycles appeared on the course, pedaling over the hills and around bunkers.

"It was all [officers on] bicycles with their yellow jackets, six, seven, eight, biking all over the course getting the golfers," he said.

Curious, Church went up to ask an officer what was going on.

"He said 'this gentleman just got an $880 ticket.'" The golfer walked off with his head hung low, according to Church, who said he was floored by the amount of the fine.

"That's an expensive round of golf," said Paul Johnson, director of Hamilton's emergency operations centre, during a media update Friday.

Ontario has issued an emergency order under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (EMCPA), shuttering non-essential businesses, closing public places and outdoor recreational sites including playgrounds, off-leash dog parks and sports fields and prohibiting social gatherings of more than five people.

Individuals who don't comply can face a $750 fine.

Chedoke, along with all other city golf courses and parks, has been shut down to stop the spread of COVID-19.

But that hasn't stopped some from seeing open fairways as an open invitation.

Hamilton police had handed out six tickets under the EMCPA as of Friday morning, according to spokesperson Jackie Penman.

Four of those tickets went to golfers who tried to hit the links despite the course being closed.

"As you know, under the EMCPA all outdoor recreational facilities have been closed. This includes Chedoke," she explained in an email.

Penman said police are working to make sure residents follow the direction of public health officials around physical distancing.

"Our ability to enforce is a last resort but we continue to see a few people who are choosing to ignore the steps that have been put in place for everyone's safety," she added. "We continue to encourage people to fight the virus and not the rules put in place to protect us."

Bylaw officers are also out in full force, said Monica Ciriello, acting director of licensing and by-law services.

At least three animal control vans could be seen driving around Chedoke Thursday evening, with officers walking out onto the course to speak to people running their dogs without a leash.

Bylaw's initial focus was also on education, but they started handing out tickets under the EMCPA as of yesterday, said Ciriello. Five people have been written up so far.

"We recognize the reality of the situation, kids are out of school, the weather is getting nicer, that this is naturally people want to go outside," she said. "But recognize we're just out there doing our job and we're doing it to keep the community safe so we can … get out of this pandemic."

'A serious financial consequence'

City enforcement officers are focusing on three main areas.

Ciriello said licensing is making sure non-essential businesses aren't operating, while parking officers are working with police to make sure people are following physical distancing guidelines at places like Albion Falls where "hundreds" of people are still showing up, walking right past "closed" signs, and taking to the trails.

Animal-control officers are making sure people aren't gathering in parks and ticketing those walking dogs without a leash.

Bylaw is also working to make sure the signs, barriers and caution tape around the city stairs and parks are still place as they seem to be continually torn down.

"Every night we have to respond and go back," said Ciriello. "It's challenging in the sense that we are out in the public to make the community safer. We can't do that if we have to keep repeating the steps we continue to take."

Johnson said the city's signs and barricades are "not a joke."

"They're there for a purpose. We will take it very seriously if they continue to get moved and destroyed."

Businesses that are open and shouldn't be can also be fined to a maximum of $500,000 under the act.

"It's a serious financial consequence, absolutely," said Ciriello. " People need to recognize the severity of what this act is in the situation that we're facing."

Church spent much of Thursday afternoon warning people venturing out onto the tempting green grass of the golf course to stay away.

Born with tuberculosis, he knows better than most the risks of COVID-19.

"They're doing what they think is right and I'm in no position to disagree," Church said, looking out at the animal control vans parked along the road.

"This is not only breaking the law, but it also could be dangerous."