The City of Ottawa has established a "swat team" of eight bylaw officers to keep pot smokers out of its parks.

Smoking cannabis, like cigarettes, is banned in city parks and facilities, and the city is reinforcing that rule with some extra muscle.

"We don't want, for lack of a better term, slippage — different behaviours beginning because now cannabis is legal," said Anthone Di Monte, the city's general manager of emergency and protective services.

"We want those environments be to be smoke-free."

Anthony Di Monte, the city's general manager of emergency and protective services, explains how things will be different from a bylaw perspective now that recreational cannabis is legal. 1:04

The city's smoke-free bylaw carries a minimum $500 fine for smoking in a prohibited area.

Normally, bylaw officers respond to complaints from the public, and don't patrol parks and other public areas. But when it comes to pot smoking, Di Monte said he wants the city to be proactive.

Part of the problem is communicating a complicated message when it comes to where people can smoke, and to whom residents should complain if they see someone breaking the rules.

If someone is smoking marijuana in a bus shelter, call OC Transpo. At a park? Get in touch with bylaw. In a car? Call police.

To further confuse matters, the city's rules are different than the National Capital Commission's, for example. That means City Hall is a smoke-free zone, but across the street in Confederation Park, it's allowed.

"This is arguably one of the most complex jurisdictions from a municipal standpoint," and it will take people a long time to figure it out, Di Monte said.