The Sundre RCMP detachment invited the Round Up’s editor, Simon Ducatel, to join Const. Dow York as an observer during a ride along on Friday, May 18.
The following is a breakdown of that night’s patrol.
7 p.m.
Arrive at the station to meet up with the constable. Get ready to head out and briefly catch up with Const. Barry Kelly, who was wrapping up his day shift.
Initial plans to attend checkstop along Rig Street, an industry access road west of Sundre past the Bearberry Saloon, delayed to follow up on a report of suspicious and possible drug activity on a rural property northeast of Sundre owned by an individual known to police.
7:35 p.m.
Two officers, constables Eric Morris and Codi Lewald, are already on scene as we arrive at the wooded-in residence with several outbuildings and two pit bulls that seem alert but not overly aggressive or confrontational as York does a perimeter check while his colleagues speak with a female resident.
Officers determine that any suspects have already left the scene and are preparing to leave when Lewald observes a vehicle attempting to enter the property only to promptly turn around and flee the scene.
Eastbound pursuit down a portion of Highway 587 in the direction of Bowden ensues, but the suspect vehicle had a substantial head start, resulting in a search for a needle in a haystack, so York decides to cease the chase and returns to Sundre by way of Highway 22.
8:20 p.m.
Short return to the Sundre detachment following an inadvertent double scheduling for a ride along with a member of the Sundre Citizens on Patrol Association. York wanted to meet the individual face to face to extend an apology for the mix-up and set a new time. But the person had already left the station before we arrived, so the constable placed a quick call to sort out the situation. After a brief telephone exchange, the plan to regroup with other members at the Rig Street checkstop is delayed again by a report of a stolen vehicle.
8:30 p.m.
Constable makes multiple followup phone calls in an effort to obtain details to determine circumstances behind the missing car and whether the vehicle should be reported stolen in police database. The registered owner had been out of town for a couple of weeks and returned home to find the car missing. Initial information gleaned from numerous phone interviews not concrete enough to convince York to immediately report the vehicle stolen, so the officer decides to wait until he is more confident before flagging the car.
8:50 p.m.
Quick stop at Tim Hortons for coffee before heading out west on Highway 584 towards the Rig Street checkstop. Along the way, York discusses a detailed drug recognition evaluator’s program that he successfully completed this past February in Jacksonville, Fla. Impending recreational cannabis in Canada is only a minor part of a countrywide effort to increase the number of police officers trained to identify not only driver impairment but also the kind of substance involved, the constable said, adding the main concerns are the proliferation of drugs such as fentanyl and meth.
While there tends to be a common public misconception that police will essentially arrest anyone who fails a “walk the line” test, the constable said that is only one of many indicators police look out for. People recovering from, for example, an ankle injury or otherwise natural imbalance can still be cleared as safe to operate a motor vehicle based on other tests such as pupil dilation, eye reaction and reflexes, blood pressure and heart rate. Police efforts to remove impaired drivers from the roads is not about ruining people’s fun but rather taking measures to ensure everyone’s safety, he said.
9:25 p.m.
Arrive at the Rig Street checkstop, where members of the Sundre Volunteer Search and Rescue Society are assisting police and peace officers, as well as providing informational pamphlets about their organization and the importance of being prepared for a weekend in the West Country, where cell service is generally absent and emergency response times can be more than an hour.
Although the checkstop had apparently been much busier earlier that evening — search and rescue volunteers ran out of several hundred pamphlets — the volume of traffic by this time had largely trickled down to just a few vehicles without any incidents as they passed through.
10:05 p.m.
Shortly after leaving the Rig Street checkstop, we are en route back to Sundre when a call to be on the lookout for a suspected impaired driver is heard over the radio. The rest of the drive back to the detachment is largely uneventful as we exchange some casual conversation.
10:35 p.m.
Following a quick washroom break at the station, we prepare to establish another checkstop immediately east of the Red Deer River Bridge near the Bergen Road intersection at the pedestrian crosswalk. Meanwhile, York receives a followup phone call about the earlier report of a stolen vehicle that clarifies a misunderstanding that had led the owner to assume the car had been taken. Although the vehicle had been driven to Olds for an errand without the owner's prior knowledge, it was not stolen, but did experience mechanical issues on the way back to the owner’s property, delaying its return.
11 p.m.
Checkstop set up and officers begin checking passing motorists for signs of impairment. Within about 10 minutes, an officer who had come in from a neighbouring detachment to lend a hand places a female driver who failed the roadside breath test under arrest. Completely cooperative and non-combative, the motorist is handcuffed and brought into the detachment to determine her blood alcohol content. After being read her rights, she waives the opportunity to first contact a lawyer and decides to simply proceed with the tests. The first sample blows a failed reading because of mouth alcohol, and two subsequent readings that each take about 15 minutes to prepare for indicate a level approximately three times the legal limit. She is subsequently criminally charged with driving under the influence.
1:20 a.m.
After processing the impaired motorist’s paperwork, the constable offers to drive her home west of town, which she declines, and he instead brings her to a residence in Sundre that she requested.
Before going back to patrol Sundre’s streets, we stop by Tim Hortons for a meal to go. Parking along Main Avenue in front of Piros Family Restaurant near the Centre Street Intersection, the officer enjoys a soup while keeping an eye on passing traffic, which has by now become fairly sparse.
We then proceed to patrol through the east side residential area before coming back to the west side of the Red Deer River to drive around the northeast subdivision as well as the northwest quadrant near the Sundre Pro Rodeo grounds.
2:40 a.m.
Headed southbound on Centre Street North near the Bearberry Creek Bridge, we observe a small car with a missing headlight that has been pulled over by Lewald and Morris, who later inform us the driver had been rushing friends to the Sundre hospital following an ATV mishap.
3:10 a.m.
Although York still has shy of two hours of his shift remaining, we head back to the station where I return my observer’s vest before calling it a night.
