More Join Alexa’s Team
Dignitaries pose with some of the members of Alexa's Team who were officially recognized at a ceremony in P.G. today – photo 250News
Prince George, B.C.- Amid purple balloons and petunias, RCMP officers from throughout North District have been recognized for their efforts to keep impaired drivers off the roads.
38 have been named as members of “Alexa’s Team”. The team is named in honour of Alexa Middelaer, the 4 and a half year old girl who was killed by an impaired driver.
In order to qualify as a member of “Alexa’s Team” an officer must have removed at least 12 impaired drivers from the roadways through either a criminal charge, or a 90 day immediate roadside prohibition in the previous year.
This year, there were 38 officers throughout North District who joined Alexa’s team, or renewed their membership.
In 2013, the 38 officers in North District issued:
70 Reports to Crown Counsel
20 Administrative Driving Prohibitions
237 24 hour roadside prohibitions
552 90 day Prohibition for Immediate Roadside Prohibition “Fail”
274 3, 7, or 30 day prohibitions for Immediate roadside Prohibition “Warn”
“It’s hard to say if we are seeing reductions in the numbers of people who drink and drive” says North District Staff Sergeant Pat McTiernan, “it all depends on how many people we ( RCMP) have out there. The fatal picture itself, when I look at it 2006 at 106 people dying on northern highways, to last year when we had 46, and then just a fraction of those are impaired drivers. What we’re seeing now, moving to the forefront is distracted driving, a lot of our fatalities are being cause by people who are on their electronic dev ices or cell phones, which is a form of impaired driving but we don’t include that in the Alexa’s Team, the Alexa’s Team is all about the impaired driving by alcohol and drugs.”
Staff Sergeant McTiernan says it’s very encouraging to him to see general duty members getting on board with Alexa’s Team “I look at the Dawson Creek detachment where we saw 8 members from the Dawson Creek detachment jump on, and they are part of Alexa’s team. For a small detachment that’s a large accomplishment.”
All across B.C. there were 313 who made it to “Alexa’s Team for their work last year and they were responsible for nearly 50% of the impaired driving enforcement last year. They also removed some 231 drivers impaired by drugs from B.C.’s roads in 2013.
Comments
ohh wowww they have a quota
No wonder they say staff moral is down
Every dollar the Mounties rake in, city hall gets .25 cents. Adds up.
While I don’t have a problem with the efforts made to keep impaired drivers off of the road, I question the ever increasing need for these types of ceremonies.
As the story above states: “Amid purple balloons and petunias, RCMP officers from throughout North District have been recognized for their efforts to keep impaired drivers off the roads.”
Isn’t that their job and if so, aren’t we all recognizing their efforts every time that we give the members their pay cheques?
I suspect that some if not most of these members are currently being paid during their time at this ceremony. I wonder if their time would be better spent being out on the roads enforcing the traffic laws and getting more drunks off of the road.
I suspect that some people might appreciate the fact that these members are at a ceremony instead of being out on patrol, but I would rather the members be out doing the job that they are paid to perform.
Remove one cold, dead, dismembered and bloody body from a vehicle and you may better understand their motivation.
Thank you Alex’s Team for keeping me and my loved ones safe.
I am appreciated at my job. It comes in the form of a paycheck every two weeks. :-)
Evolution, “in order to qualify as a member of âAlexaâs Teamâ an officer must have removed at least 12 impaired drivers from the roadways through either a criminal charge, or a 90 day immediate roadside prohibition in the previous year.”
So, what about the poor officers that only remove 11 impaired drivers from the roadways, or how about only 10? How do we recognize their efforts? How do we console them for their failure to get the required 12 off of the road, even though they were “out there” doing their jobs?
Will we need a ceremony for the “almost made it” groups so that they don’t feel left out and unrecognized for their efforts?
If only a fraction of the 46 fatalities in 2013 were from impaired drivers, then its pretty obvious that the real problem is electronic devices, cell phones, and basically driving without due care and attention,.
Perhaps we need to have a team for these types of driving infractions,.
What’s in the air tonight? Boy, a lot of disgruntled people commenting! I, for one, truly appreciate the thankless jobs these people do. I thought about joining when I was young but then just seeing what they have to put up with, even in a court setting, from defence lawyers turned me right off.
They do a heck of a job and often receive no thanks. I’m all for recognising, in a public way, any part of the job they do. They really deserve it.
So “Give more”, if an officer doesn’t meet the required “12 impaired drivers” because he/she is too busy writing speeding tickets or other traffic violations, how do we recognize these members?
Perhaps one of speeders is doing so excessively and has their vehicle impounded? The suspension of this “perps” licence and the impounding of their vehicle might prevent an accident and might save someone’s life! This is a good thing, but the member will not be recognized in any way other than receiving the pay cheque that comes with the job!!
I can just see the complaints coming from those that don’t get the recognition that Alexa’s Team members get. They are all doing the job that we pay them to do, shouldn’t they all get special ceremonies??
Chasing and playing games with drug dealers and thieves just don’t pay as well as traffic fines. Get the connection?
will whoever works with hart guy please give him some balloons tomorrow
Thanks interceptor, but I’m afraid that I am allergic to balloons, petunias as well! You can have any that you had set aside for me!
You can think of it as your recognition for thinking of me and wanting to share with me! Thanks!!
Comments for this article are closed.