Re: This Officer Did Not Fulfil Duty to Serve and Protect, The Daily News, June 30, 2010

I am writing in reply to the above titled article, as I was the officer involved.

I often read this section of the paper and get a laugh at the half-truths, which are often published. This article was one of them. I was the officer who dealt with these four youths.

The Central Interior Integrated Road Safety Unit was conducting a road check on Squilax-Anglemont Highway near Scotch Creek on June 25 in the afternoon when a white SUV drove up to the road check.

There were four youths in the vehicle, two boys and two girls, approximately 16 and 17 years of age. The driver had a Class 7 driver’s licence, which restricts the number of passengers to only one. The driver was issued a violation ticket for driving contrary to restrictions and advised he would only be able to continue with one passenger.

He said they would arrange for transportation for his other two passengers. The driver’s mother was called and spoke to me to find out what was happening.

She advised she did not condone her son having more than one passenger in the vehicle, contrary to what he had initially said to police. She advised someone would be there in 45 minutes to pick up the stranded passengers and the driver would wait with them.

The youths waited at roadside for about 15 minutes until Miss Gallant walked up to me and another officer and asked if we would give her a ride to the beach. She was told that one of the parents would be there shortly to pick them up and the inconvenience of having to wait was the price to pay for taking a chance in getting into a car with a class 7 driver with too many passengers. Miss Gallant walked back to the SUV, spoke to the driver and left on foot towards Kamloops with the other male.

It is common knowledge that the majority of youths around the age of 16 to 17 are aware that new drivers have restrictions in regards to the number of passengers they can have, yet police still find a large number of youths who ignore the rules of the Graduated Licensing Program, which was put in place to keep new drivers focused on the task of driving and not of socializing.

Having the four youths wait at the side of the road in a vehicle, while police were still conducting a road check, on a warm sunny day was an inconvenience for them and not a danger.

I hoped this would drive home the point that it is against the law to do what they did and if they play the game they can expect to face the consequence.

It’s time to grow up and realize there are consequences to your actions.

CPL. BERNIE PARENT

NCO i/c Central Interior Integrated Road Safety Unit