Prince George, B.C. – Last year, members of “Alexa’s Team” took nearly 13 thousand impaired drivers off B.C. roads.

Alexa’s Team    is a project formed in the wake of the death of 4 ½  year old Alexa Middelaer in 2008. She  and her aunt were on the side of a road, admiring a horse, when an impaired driver left the road, and  hit her. The driver was sentenced to 2 ½ years.

To become a member of Alexa’s Team, a police officer must have removed at least 12 impaired drivers from the road in the previous year.

Amid purple balloons and purple name tags, ( purple was Alexa’s favourite colour) 45 officers from the North District region, including all 7 members of the Prince George Detachment’s Traffic  Unit became members of "Alexa’s Team". 

“It was my goal to have each member of the Traffic Unit become a member of Alexa’s Team this year” says Sergeant Al Steinhauser  “I am very proud to say each of them achieved that goal.”

In fact, one member of Steinhauser’s team, Constable Brian Davis, not only became a member of Alexa’s Team , he has been honoured as an “All Star” as he took 112 impaired drivers off the road.

In the Prince George area, 562 impaired drivers were taken off the roads  by members of the local detachment’s Traffic Services unit and by the North District Integrated Road Safety Unit.

Each year, the new members of Alexa’s team are welcomed in a special event at a local school.   Each year, the event features children who are the age Alexa would be now had the tragic events in 2008 not  taken her life. This year, it was the grade 3 students at Immaculate Conception School in Prince George, who presented the “Alexa’s Team ball caps to the deserving recipients.

There are now 355 members of Alexa’s Team throughout  B.C.