• I can’t take all the credit for all the report’s contents, especially since we have three great editors who take turns proof reading it before I send it. Trust me my sentence structure and punctuation are not that great. In addition, it is the team that generates most of the stories and I get to review the files and “Tell the rest of the story”
• In addition sometimes we write more warnings and tickets than we take credit for. I say write, but I mean issue. You know? How we use old expressions but they don’t really make sense anymore? Dial a phone, turn on a TV, roll down the car window, penny for your thoughts . . . and we all know there are many more.
• We continue to modernize the way we provide service to our communities and we rarely write tickets any more. We print them off a small printer in our patrol vehicles. We scan your driver’s licence, pull the licence plate information from the SGI database and print out a ticket through a program called PAT Ticketing. This then gets transferred through a program called PAT and then into a program called PROS which is where I pull my stats. If the information has not been transferred yet, I don’t know about it. Thus, when our traffic members are on a project it could take a few days for this information to be transferred.
• 911 hangups and miss dials are becoming a thing again. Take your time. Ensure you pay attention to what you are doing. Watch out for those fat fingers.
• If you have an alarm please update your “keyholder” If you don’t get the quick service of the Police, don’t get mad at us. Talk to your alarm company. There is nothing in the contract that says the Police will respond. In many jurisdictions you get charged after a couple of false alarms or service is terminated.
• Now if you want the Police to come help you and it is not an emergency and I know you many think it is an emergency, please don’t call 911. Call 310 RCMP (7267).
• Now if you get mad at someone and strike them and in the process your cell phone falls and hits the ground and is kicked away, I am sorry, but you can’t blame the person being struck for damaging your phone. Well, I guess you can blame them, however, we sure are not going to charge them.
• Culvert and sign posts were stolen from a yard. We have no suspects or clues that will assist us with this investigation at this time.
• One family member has another family member’s “government” cheque. We are now involved and hopefully we will be able to resolve the matter. If you are afraid that a family member is going through your mail, please get you own mail box.
• A residence no longer exists after a fire engulfed it. Carlyle Fire responded but there was not much they could do.
• We have two fraud investigations initiated over the last week. One relates to possibly identity theft while the other has to do with misuse of a cheque.
• An individual was arrested for breaching their release conditions. They were found using illegal substances which was and is illegal, however, they were also on conditions not to consume illegal drugs. This individual was released and unfortunately their addictions got the best of them which resulted in a subsequent hospital visit and transfer to another hospital. They were not charged for the subsequent breach of release conditions due to the circumstances.
• Another individual breached their release conditions and also had a hospital visit, which also resulted in a transfer to another hospital. This individual was not charged due to the circumstances.
• We deal with numerous mental health and addictions calls each week. This week was a little higher than most weeks, but not out of the ordinary at all. One case, which in its own way is unfortunate, can only be described in its own way as humorous on occasion. You know the old expression “The lights are on, but nobody is home” Well, we have an individual where the expression should be “The lights are out, and somebody is home”. Unfortunately, due to mental health and addictions issues they don’t realize or accept they don’t have power.
• We had a youth not comply with a curfew and the parent brought them in the following day to deal with the breach of release conditions. We need more parents like this.
• As we have seen many times it is unfortunate that an addictions issue, a mental health issue, or combination of both leads to individuals committing Criminal Offences. This is the world we live in and trust me when I say we try and avoid this whenever possible.
• More break and enters or attempted break and enters to businesses have been occurring. Cameras really help, but when we don’t have cameras, we still investigate and involve our Forensic Identification Section out of Yorkton.
• One parent is upset that the other parent is not complying with a court order in relation to custody of a child. I always feel sorry for the child. Sometimes we find that neither parent will take the high road. Often the child will manipulate the parents because they are so easy to manipulate, being they are so irrational. Either way the child is never the winner. I have seen some parents handle these situations with grace, compassion and respect. That said, what we normally see is, well embarrassing to say the least.
• Our impaired driving statistics keep increasing, especially impaired by drugs. Between our Detachment and our Detachment traffic Members we had five over the weekend. Four in and around Stoughton and two around the Carlyle area.
• A traffic stop was conducted after an individual failed to stop for a stop sign and did not signal they were turning. When approached by the Police Officer the driver said “Hi”, I mean the driver was obviously high. They were arrested and failed a test conducted by a Drug Recognition Expert. They also received a $360 fine for having cannabis in the vehicle and a warning for the stop sign and failing to signal.
• Members of our Traffic Unit were on a grid road, yes we travel on those as well, being GRC is also known as Grid Road Cop. Okay, back to the story. A traffic stop was conducted and the passenger was identified as having warrants. The driver was suspected as driving under the influence of cannabis and failed the roadside drug test. A 60-day suspension was issued and the driver is now awaiting their blood results which we expect will confirm their ability to operate a motor vehicle was impaired by drugs.
• An individual was known to have received a cell phone ticket recently. An anonymous complainant called to report they are still driving and using their phone. Unfortunately we can not issue a ticket with a witness known as Anne NOMOUS. The courts kind of frown on that. Now if the anonymous caller chose to identify themselves and provide a statement we can issue a ticket.
• Sometimes our ability to solve crime is more of a follow the evidence and is not overly challenging. One such case goes as follows: A piece of “property” that was purchased was to be picked up at a facility that sells such property. Unfortunately, an unauthorized person picked it up, however, it appears the facility that sells such property properly identified the individual that picked up the property. This individual gave it to their significant other, who then gave it to their parent who was totally unaware their “property” had been stolen. The “property” is now with the appropriate owner. We are awaiting a decision as to whether the complainant wants to have charges laid.
• Members responded to several calls from the driving public. On one occasion the driver was confirmed to be sober and the complainant just wanted us to provide a warning. Often it is fatigue but apparently after being pulled over by the Police most if not everyone is wide awake and alert. Apparently a Police car with emergency lights can cause heart palpitations, increased pulse rate and shortness of breath. Who knew.
• The animals are rebelling. Normally we vehicles collide with deer, moose and sometimes elk. Lately it looks as though all the animals are involved and we have had moose, deer, racoon and beaver.
• Members issued approximately 45 warnings and 35 tickets over the last week.
• Tickets were issued for have liquor in a place other than a private place - $250, fail to stop at stop sign - $230, fail to wear seatbelt -$230, operate without a valid licence - $150, transport insecure cargo - $175, cell phone -$230, fail to produce registration - $100, exceeding the speed limit in a school zone - $290, and most expensive speeding ticket was for $286.
• Warnings were issued for careless driving, fail to wear seatbelt, insecure load, obstructed licence plate, fail to produce drivers licence, fail to signal before making a turn, cell phone, and fail to produce registration.
• Inspection notices were issued for inadequate windshield, inadequate rear lights, interior rear seat not attached, loose wires hanging from rear of vehicle, ......wait all that was on one vehicle, while on another vehicle we issued inspection notices for window tint, mudflaps/fenders and light vehicle inspection due to a 6” lift kit. Other inspection notices were issued for inadequate windshield and inadequate muffler.
