Sheriff's May Hit the Roads for Traffic Duty

Tuesday, September 07, 2010 05:59 PM

Prince George, B.C.- There is a very distinct possibility Sheriffs in B.C. will be moving into the traffic duty stream. Attorney General Mike deJong has approved moving forward with pilot projects that would involve several communities. Sources tell Opinion 250 the pilot projects will likely be in Kamloops and Chilliwack.

"We have supported the government with this ever since we first presented the idea in 2007. We are pleased to learn the attorney general has decided to go ahead with a pilot project," said Dean Purdy, chair of the BCGEU's Corrections & Sheriff Services Component.

In 2007, the union met with former Attorney General Wally Oppal and pitched the idea of expanding the mandate of sheriffs' duties to include routine traffic duties. In 2009, the BCGEU put forward its proposal repeatedly to current Attorney General Mike de Jong. This would take the pressure off police forces and make additional officers available, we argued. This initiative includes moving responsibility for some routine police duties, such as traffic patrol, in order to free up police officers for more serious criminal investigations, such as gang task force and drug crimes.

"BC sheriffs have been underutilized for many years. This is about improving road safety for all British Columbians and working to provide additional resources to police forces. We see this as a win-win for both the BC sheriffs and the police. It makes complete sense from a safety standpoint on how resources are utilized," said Purdy.

But some police insiders disagree. They tell Opinion 250 that while Alberta (which has had this system in effect for 4 years) did see a significant increase in the number of tickets written against drivers on highway 2 beween Calgary and Edmonton when the sheriffs were brought on stream, there was no corresponding decrease in crashes.

There are also a number of questions which have not yet been answered, those questions include:

Will the sheriff only be handling traffic offences and if so, what happens if they pull someone over who is wanted on an outstanding warrant? Will they be doing vehicle inspections? Will they call the local police force, to take over an investigation if the driver is suspected of being impaired? Who carries the responsibility for paying for the Sheriff's time? Who makes the decision on when or where traffic enforcement will take place? Who do they report to? What is the chain of command between a non union police body and the unionized sheriffs?

A spokesman for the Attorney General's office says there is no plan to hire more Sheriffs.

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Posted on Tuesday, September 07, 2010 05:59 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Harbinger on September 7 2010 6:53 PM

How about mainstreaming school board janitors to dish out tickets during the summer months? What a doofus government. Money coming in must be down a tad if they are sending these "criminal chauffeurs" out and about. Online gaming dough not rolling in fast enough now? Grrrr.

Posted by: Harbinger on September 7 2010 6:54 PM

Willy Offal gonna be a traffic cop? He has credentials.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on September 7 2010 7:09 PM

Money grab.
Or should I say...another one.

Posted by: hammmy on September 7 2010 7:43 PM

So where the hell did all the cops go? Isn't that why we need to build another cop station? What is the chain of command between a non union police body and the unionized sheriffs?

Posted by: supertech on September 7 2010 7:49 PM

The more ticket writers -- the more money coming in to government and police. Like the clip says; no reduction in crashes.

Posted by: JamesToney on September 7 2010 9:11 PM

oh god the sherriffs are a big joke in this town last thing we need are these big bozos driving around handing out speeding tickets

Posted by: seamutt on September 7 2010 9:30 PM

Are the Sherriffs going to pack guns. Anyone concerned about all the paramilitay outfits being spawned. Cops, conservation officers, park rangers now sherriffs, what is going on. Are we turning into some third world banna republic.

Posted by: mooseheart on September 7 2010 10:08 PM

Umm the Sheriffs have packed guns for years. And dont worry they are to undersatffed to even think about traffic duties. This keeps popping up all the time but will never happen so everyone settle down. Its the government after all.

Posted by: acrider54 on September 8 2010 4:56 AM

Another way for this government to grab a buck. Might as well get taxi drivers, CO's, all federal and provincial government workers, city workers, fireman men to hand out tickets. You could even get seniors to do that.

Posted by: PrinceGeorge on September 8 2010 7:03 AM

"Another way for this government to grab a buck."

Fine with me! Too many people disobey speed limits, single & double lines on the roads, stop signs (!), traffic lights, you name it!

School zones are ignored, tail gating is rampant, some people STILL use their cellphones while driving and some don't wear seat belts!

Nail them! Make them pay big time! Obviously they have money to burn!

The NDP grabbed bick bucks with photo radar traps and sent the tickets in the mail! At least THIS governments grabs the bucks from the idiots while actually catching them physically in the act!

Go government, go!

And Prince George will get a fat traffic fines sharing cheque in the mail!

Perfect! Keep it up!

Posted by: SummerSoul on September 8 2010 7:17 AM

When Dave Barret brought in the Sheriffs, the conservative opposition called them "Barret's Browshirts". They claimed that the Sheriffs would become the enforcers of a socialist revolution.
May we now suggest that today's Brownshirts foreshadow a fascist revolution? Just thinking.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on September 8 2010 8:23 AM

Another step towards living in a police state.

Posted by: crazylegshinch on September 8 2010 10:19 AM

To the best of my knowledge, BC Sheriffs have been coming out of training with constable status for a while now, which means that they have the same power to enforce the law that the RCMP, Municipal Police Forces, and the BC Transit Police do. The only difference is, they've been limited to working in the courts. So this has been in the making for some time.

And of course there's no reduction of crashes with increased ticket writing. The people who habitually speed recklessly or drive unsafely aren't going to stop at the threat of a ticket. Hello, that's been the threat all a long. Do they really care who may write the ticket? No. But it's a source of revenue for the province.

I think the tougher laws taking cars away from excessive speeder might be a better threat.

Posted by: weaksauce on September 8 2010 11:06 AM

This is fine as long as the sheriffs are doing traffic enforcemnt instead of the RCMP and not in addition to the RCMP.

Posted by: Slim2229 on September 8 2010 1:15 PM

To Summer and Andy all I can think of is
"Duh!"
James: what, did they serve you papers, were you in custody, did they throw you outa court for chewing gum? Want some cheese with that?
The Union loves this because it will fill the coffers with more UNION DUES! HELLO?
Dean, You're a good guy, but you know where the bears poop, just say'in.
Yes, Sheriffs could handle the job, that's not a problem, a couple more courses and away they go, anyone who doesn't like it, don't screw up on our streets and highways.
Province musta looked at the revenue it created in Alberta and said yeah, we're missing a cash cow here, let's giver bullets.
Yes, they need more staff and they will get them, just don't know what caliber of people they're gonna get.
Unfortunately, when our citizens keep screwing up driving like fools, there will always be more enforcement. Good, keeps my insurance rates from going up, maybe........
The ones I'm sick of are the whiners, you know the ones.
"Damn cop gave me a ticket, whine, whine, whine"
We all get a laugh out of them and they don't know enough to go and dispute it, their loss.
It'll be good to see them on the road.

Posted by: frankgeorgeson on September 8 2010 2:38 PM

Sheriffs probably make less than police.

Is this actually just a method to lower costs and increase the police force as crime rates drop? Didn't ICBC just lower rates saying that accident rates are down?

Maybe a new Steelworkers-IWA plan. Lets see; new workers make 25% less than established workers. What happened to the concept of equal pay for work of equal value1!

Frank

Posted by: lost it all on September 8 2010 5:38 PM

So now if we are commiting a minor traffic violation we have,

Ministry of Forests with radar and the ability to write tickets.

RCMP

RCMP Highway Patrol

CVSE

Weigh scales

BC Sheriffs

But if my child is violated from a child molester there is only one organization that may come to his/her aid, and that would be the RCMP, but only if they are not too busy handing out a ticket for cell phone use.

Posted by: supertech on September 8 2010 8:48 PM

Don't forget Conservation Officers. They can write tickets now for seatbelts while on a secondary road. They also have radar guns and are handing out speeding tickets. This must be the Liberals last kick at the cat. There's hundreds of wanna be cops out there.

Oh yeah, just a note: I was pulled over by the RCMP today because I had my cel phone to my ear while driving. The cop must have been a bit disappionted when I didn't have a phone. This left me with the sinking feeling that they can pretty well fabricate whatever suits their mood if they really want to. Would I have received a ticket if my phone was with me?