RCMP Launches CounterAttack Program
Supt. Warren Brown, officer in charge of the Prince George RCMP (left) and Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Morris at the launch of the CounterAttack program Friday night in Prince George – photo 250News
Prince George, B.C. – Don’t drink and drive.
It may seem like an old slogan but it’s still not getting through to some drivers.To hammer that point home the Prince George RCMP launched their CounterAttack program at the corner of Highway 16 and Highway 97 with a road check tonight.
“We’re into week three of our holiday road check campaign and we’ve had three impaired drivers stopped the first weekend and we had six impaired drivers stopped last weekend,” said Sgt. Matt LaBelle, NCO of the RCMP’s Traffic Services Section.
“It’s stuff like this where we stop traffic and we make contact with drivers and determine if they’re sober enough to drive. It’s stuff like this where we really hit the message home.”
“I do believe the majority of people in our community understand this, they get this,” added Supt. Warren Brown, officer in charge of the Prince George detachment. “So by doing this, we hope that we make our roads safer.”
Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Morris was also hand tonight and said the numbers support Brown’s argument.
“We’ve brought our alcohol fatalities down because of our Immediate Roadside Prohibition program. It’s reduced alcohol related fatalities by over 50 per cent the last 10 years. But we still have a long ways to go.”
According to the provincial government impaired driving still costs 66 people their lives each year in British Columbia.
“So it’s events like this tonight that save lives, that reinforces the message that you don’t drink and drive. Take Operation Red Nose, take a cab, get a friend to drive you, do whatever you can but don’t drink and drive,” said Morris.
Comments
These clods set up at one of the busiest intersections in Prince George and caused nothing but a traffic jam. Good job, dopes.
Glad I turned off at Ferry and went around the bloody mess they caused. Their bloody PR stunts don’t impress me. All their useless ads, imploring people to report drunk drivers. You call one in twice and then watch as the drunk weaves on the highway for the next 30+ minutes, nearly having a head on more than once.
Then the guy blows a nut in the middle of the highway because he “misshed hish turn”. Another 15 minutes and who do you see? Mr “concerned” cop leisurely making his way up airport Hill on H97S, hoping the drunk will be gone.
Wow, nice comment!
I’ll remember this when you are criticizing me, or anyone else for our posts, haha, oops Hahaha!
I’ve never claimed to be perfect. Everything I said in that comment I saw with my own two eyes. I didn’t get it off of Fox News, Breitfart or some other proto-fascist “news” site.
Agreed. They could have set this up somewhere else and not during rush hour. No traffic control, signs or anything. Amateurish.
Aww you poor poor little baby! It was a media event! Haha suckers. It’s too bad I came down with the flu or I would have been out there too causing grief for you. Baby.
You’re a cop? If you are then your ridiculous response explains a lot at why a roadblock would be set up at that location at 06:30 in the evening.
It was a media event? Right. If that was the case then it was just a demonstration of the sheer genius running your outfit to set up a traffic jam as a press event. /s
No man I’m not a cop. And road blocks are set up at any time of the day regardless how busy traffic is. A cop would probably never answer your post like I did.
Negative Nancy.
metalman.
I wonder how negative you would have been if that drunk had collided with you and you had ended up in the Hospital? Only to find out later that the cop someone had called for 40+ minutes earlier was sauntering up the hill without lights, siren or any concern that a dangerous situation was occurring, while he or she studiously attempted to keep their Tim Horton’s coffee from spilling.
However, they sure are good to create traffic jams and get their picture taken as they show their “concern” to get drunks off the road.
I’ve been there as well. Numerous times. Called one in a number of years ago to the PG detachment and was told to call the Vanderhoof detachment.
Couple of you morons perhaps should of been cops instead of the mouthpieces that you are ?You think you could do a better job? Get at it idiots! Perhaps a few days doing their job would smarten you up , no probably not ! Don’t you blowhards think there’s some thought behind where they set up road checks.
No. I don’t think there was any thought at setting up a roadblock on one of the busiest intersections in the city at 6:30 at night.
So here is the question. Did they catch anyone drunk? If they did then I’ll at least admit that it did some good, no matter how dumb the location was.
It did exactly what it was supposed to do.. if you are whining about it..go volunteer at the police to help victims of crime and listen to,what the have suffered through.. or ask anyone who has lost a loved one to a drunken driver driver how stupid raid blocks are…
Don’t be so damn selfish..think of others…
Jesus, learn to read. I didn’t say roadblocks are stupid. I said the location was dumb. I also said if they caught someone then some good came out of it. How is that selfish?
And the question still stands? Did they actually catch anyone? It’s a simple question.
So… being set up at one of the busiest intersections at rush hour… where there will be the most traffic, ergo the most amount of vehicles checked… is wrong? That’s some backwards thinking. Ever heard of happy hour? Don’t think that some people (read that as many) don’t knock back a few after work on a Friday? The fact is that impaired driving happens ALL the time. Morning, day, night, and these check stops will be at different times. So you were inconvenienced for ten minutes of your life. Worth it in my opinion if it takes even one drunk off the road. Get over yourself.
HAPPY HOUR starts at the busiest intersetion in town??? Think not… That was a very dangerous thing to do with all the traffic backed up to Pine Centre. And handing out candy canes makes it alright???
A small inconvenience to ensure everyone gets home safe is worth it I think. Just ask any family that lost a loved one to a drunk driver.
Getting that call is the most shocking and horrifying thing I have ever lived through. No matter how many talks I had with my son about getting behind the wheel impaired, for some reason it did not register.
He’s dead. I don’t care where or when they set up roadblocks, just get them off the road before they kill someone or themselves.
And HaHa, do you think your complaint is the only one they received at that particular time? I recall 150 complaints on any given night being received by the local detachment. How much time do each of those take to resolve. Think.
It wasn’t just about the time taken to respond to the call. It was also about the actual response of the cop that was sent out there.
Two calls were made to the police. One well before the Stone River bridge where, during the call, we almost witnessed the guy head on into someone two or three times. The response was taking so long that we had to make another call when the guy almost hit the abutment at the Stone River bridge. This was before the bridge replacement.
How long does it take to drive from the Stone River bridge to the top of Airport Hill at the speed limit? That is where we met the cop that had been sent out to respond to the call. He was driving without lights or siren and at a speed that could best be described as “Sunday-like”.
You would think there would be some urgency to get out there when two calls were made describing how someone had come close to maiming or killing himself and others, but….hey…..there was no chance of a photo-op, so who gave a s*** about actually getting out there and stopping a potential fatal accident from happening.
In the time it took to respond and the lackadaisical response that followed, three or more families had the potential to receive exactly the call that you described as shocking and horrifying when you got it.
And you are trying to defend them because there MAY have been more than one call to them at that time? Wow, you have gall to tell me to think.
There is ZERO chance of pleasing some people!
If the cops don’t do their jobs and someone is killed or maimed by a drunk or drug impaired driver then they are blamed for not being pro-active enough about getting these idiots off the road.
Then when they do their jobs they are criticized for where and when they chose to do it.
You should look at these roadblocks like fishing a river or a creek with a net.
Do you stand a better chance in an area where a lot of fish pass through at the same time, or where there are little or no fish? do you stand a better chance when fish are moving or when they are more dormant? Same goes for cars and traffic…there are times and places where the chance of picking off a few more idiots is enhanced!
Consider these target rich environments.
In the end I would prefer a bit of inconvenience on my commute to getting a call about a loved one being wiped out by one of Darwin’s Idiots!
You want to use fishing analogies? Here is one.
Oh man, this looks like a nice comfortable spot. I’ll throw my net in and lay back on the river bank and catch and release innocent minnows. Maybe a whale will swim by and I’ll net him, plus it makes for a great photo op.
That as opposed to, “There is a whale out here thrashing randomly. It has almost smashed three tour boats and just about run into a pier and killed itself. Bring your harpoon gun and catch this thing before it kills someone. Here is the exact location where it can be found”.
“Oh man, maybe if I drive my whale boat slow enough maybe Mr. Whale will slip out to sea and I won’t have to go through all that bother of firing my harpoon gun and all the paperwork that goes with it.”
I see a difference in an immediate danger versus a possible one, even if you don’t.
Anyway, the original comment wasn’t meant to be just a bitch about setting up a roadblock. It was meant to compare the “concerned parent” attitude these cops take in their drunk driving PR campaigns versus their actual attitude in responding to call-ins for drunk drivers in their day to day routine when there isn’t a camera around for a photo-op.
I didn’t do a good job in conveying that in my original comment, so I have to take responsibility for that.
How can you report someone, if Plates are so dirty you can’t read them.
Officer I cleaned the Plate just 2 Month ago!
How do you report someone?
Hello 911, there is a (pick a colour) (pick a model) (pick a vehicle type) near (pick a location) loaded with a (camper, ATV, snowmobile). He is pulling a (pick a colour, model or both) boat. He is driving erratically all over the highway and has almost collided head on with three cars in the time I have taken to talk to you. I’d give you a license plate, but I don’t want to be involved in his accident, so I’m staying as far back as I need to for my own safety.
If you lived in Quesnel, you wouldn’t have that problem for sure. Rarely ever see a roadblock here. I also have called the cops to report a dwi but NEVER have they been intercepted. No roadblocks in Quesnel this year that I have seen and only 1 last year. Just a lot full of cruisers with snow all over them always sitting gathering more snow.
There is a reason that a main road ia used to roll out the yearly counter attack program. It gets the word out that the police are out there and people should make smart decisions when it comes it not driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
They also bring in additional people to man the check stop so that the usual number are out on regular patrol.
As for the response there could be a number of reasons why they could not flood an area with patrol cars looking for one impaired driver. The call center has to prioritize call as they come in. Perhaps one officer was attending a domestic dispute, another a violent patient in ER, another a fight outside a bar,burgary in process, etc.
As for them responding without light and sirens at normal highway speed that could be because the guy he was looking for could have turned down any number of side roads that the officer could look down when travelling at 100k. The drunk could also panic and try to make a run for it if he sees a car approaching with lights and sirens.
Rush hour in PG? That’s a joke right? I have lived here for quite some time and have yet to see one although once did have to wait for two lights at 16 & Ferry once. Gasp!
One only has to look at the pleading “please vote for me” look on Mike Morris’s face to realize they picked the busiest time, at one of the busiest intersection in the city, to pull off an election campaign event disguised as a counter-attack awareness campaign… hey I used the word “campaign” twice in this same comment.
Only on opinion 250 will complian about the police doing their job…then again if hahaha had a friend or relative hurt by a drunk driver he/she would be on here saying his lazy they are..( actually he did in his post)
Just think …cops get to deal with a$$holes like hahaha all the time…
I love having the road blocks at major intersections… to bad if it makes you a bit late for supper..or drinks ;)
Suck it up buttercup…
You are damned right I would call a cop lazy if I had a relative injured or killed by a reported drunk driver and found out later the cop that was dispatched was on a Sunday drive.
Speaking of a$$holes. Take a look in the mirror.
Do you know the RCMP policies regarding the circumstances when lights and sirens are to be used?
Smoke another one dude because you have no grasp on reality..
Let me guess.. you are always the victim..the world isn’t fair… you deserve so much more … blah blah blah.
Hey cops.pleae .pull hahaha over every chance you get 8)
Once again the Troll rolls out his lefty looney anti everything BS.
Perhaps you should consideread that the counter attack program has been rolled out in exactly this fashion every year for quite some time. Not everything feeds into your conspiracy theories.
You are correct NyteHawwk, every year the RCMP have this roadside counterattack, but we must ask ourselves; is it every year we have our Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Morris out manning those RCMP roadblocks / checkpoints here in Prince George?
We must also ask ourselves; has Mr. Morris “ever” manned an annual roadside counterattack checkpoint over the past nearly four years he has been in office? The answer of course is a big fat NO! So we then need to ask ourselves two final questions; why this year? And… could it have something to do with the election coming up just five months from now?
Just as a side note, some of you are probably wondering why NyteHawwk and sparrow have been fixating on my comments as of late, I think it’s because; even though I did it in a respectful manner, I commented on Shirley’s Christmas Dinner for Seniors story. NyteHawwk had a conniption fit, and now he and sparrow are shadowing me and dive bombing my comments, after all, birds of a feather will stick togeather.
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