Rotorua police acting senior sergeant Jamie Keenleyside said anything the council could do to help police make the city's roads safer would be welcomed.
"There haven't been too many problems with them in the last few months but with the warmer weather they do tend to become more active.
"They do create quite a hazard on the road and also a lot of them can be intimidating and frightening for drivers."
Mr Keenleyside said under the bylaw police were not able to arrest windscreen washers. They were only able to issue them a summons to appear in court.
However, if they were causing a nuisance or being aggressive they could be arrested and processed differently.
The council's Sustainable Living portfolio leader and chairwoman of the Operations and Monitoring committee Janet Wepa said she also backed the changes after hearing from the community.
"We need to give the police the tools to use when people are being a bit of a nuisance to others," she said. "I attend the Western Heights Community Centre meetings and have heard they believe the window washers are a deterrent to people stopping to shop there.
"Some people don't mind them, as they are trying to earn some money but then there is the other view that they are intimidating and people can't say no.
"We would have preferred central government to have a stance on this, but this is the best we can do in local government," she said.
Readers had mixed reaction to the changes.
"It's dangerous for them and some can also be quite intimidating as well. I know of a few people who have been harassed, sworn and spat at.
"Do we want tourists coming into our beautiful city and having to put up with this?" one reader commented.
"At least they are doing something," said another reader. "I get more annoyed with people who are sitting there with a hat on the ground or people that ask for money for a pie."
