RCMP lack resources to charge impaired drivers

RCMP OFFICERS aren’t charging as many impaired drivers as they’d like io, says Terrace RCMP In- Spector Doug Wheler.

The detachment doesn’t have enough officers to spend the time needed for formal charges so suspected impaired drivers are being given 24-hour suspensions,

~hesalds-

- Drivers given 24-hour

Suspensions must hand over

their keys on the spot, and ‘their vehicles are towed

away at their expense.

_“Tt’s easier to do 24-hour

driving suspensious,”’ ~ Wheler said.

It takes two RCMP of- ficers to administer a breathalizer test, and anoth- er (hree hours for an officer to prepare all the paper work,

“If it didn’t take two of- ficers off the road, if it wasn'l so time consuming, if sentencing was more severe and if we had addi- tional resources then il would be a good way to deal with it,’’ Wheler said.

“But when you put all those things together il be- comes a very ineffective way to deal with it.’*

Corporal Don Murray added that on a busy Friday evening, When there are weapons calls and domestic assaults, officers can’t spend hours charging drivers.

“Yau have to attend to life Ubreatening calls fGirst,”’ he said,

Drank drivers aren’t ig- nored, he insisted, because giving 24-hour suspensions immediately removes people from their vehicles.

“Basically it is a Band- Aid situation to take care of things for the time being,” Murray said.

“In an ideal world I'd love to process all impaired driving but that’s just not possible.”

In the past three years, only two--fatalities have resulted from drunk driving in Terrace, but that doesn’t mean drinking and driving isn’t a problem in the city,

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Cpl. Murray said.

He said al two or three in the morning when the bars close, is possible that one in every four drivers on the toad could be impaired.

So far this year, 30 people have been charged with im- paired driving in Terrace and the surrounding area, and 67 people have been

given’ 24-hour ~ driving Suspensions,

Those charged were people who failed a roadside screening device — they had blood alcohol con-

centration levels of more than 100 mg per 100 mil- lilitres of blood.

Last year, 65 people were charged with impaired driv- ing in and around Terrace, and 219 impaired drivers were given 24-hour suspen- sions.

To stop drunk people from getting in their cars, Cpl. Murray said three things need lo be addressed:

* A justice system that gives out — reasonable sentences that address the crime, Rarely, he said, do the courts hand out maxi- mum penalties to impaired drivers.

* Faster court processing limes, Typically criminal cases take months to get through the legal system.

* The social element needs to be addressed, meaning the community has to edu- cate everyone not to drink and drive,

“TS stil a very social problem,” Murray said. ‘Ln Same circles some people still think its acceptable.’?

He added that all age groups drink and drive from the elderly to teenagers.

To help deter people from drinking and driving, ICBC gives money to the RCMP to step up their road checks and CounterAttack program.

Since January in and around the Terrace areca, CounterAttack road checks have stopped 9,160 drivers and charged one person with impaired driving and given 14 24-hour road suspen- sions.

is the

We

A TEST YOU DON'T WANT TO FAIL: Corporal Don Murray can request a breath

sample using a roadside screening device whenever he suspects a drivar to be

impaired. If you refuse to give a breath sample, Criminal Code of Canada.

you could be charged under the

Stiffer penalties proposed

TO DETER people from drinking and driving, Anne McLellan, the federal justice minister, introduced legisla- tive proposals in the House of Commons June 7 which would toughen impaired driving laws. ; The proposals, which are

“based on recommendations

made by the Standing Com- mittce of Justice and Human Rights, include:

* doubling the mandatory

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ininimum fine to $600 from $300 for a first impaired driving conviction

* increasing the mandatory minimum ban from driving from three nionths to one year for first-time offenders: from six months to two years for second time of- fenders, and from one year to three years for subsequent offenders.

* increasing the maximum driving, ban from three to

five years for a second of- fence and from three years io a lifetime ban for a sub- scquenl offence.

* raising the maximum semence for impaired driv- ing causing death to life im-

.. prisonment from, the current, :

maximum of 14 years. 4

* increasing the maximum ~ penalty for driving while prohibited to five years from Iwo years,

‘wise,”’ he said.

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 30, 1999 - A3

Skeena fields purchase price interests city

TERRACE CITY council has asked the school district for a copy of its latest Skcena Junior Secondary School appraisal in order to establish a firm price for the 19-acre site in the horseshoe, Steve Scott, Terrace parks and recreation superinten- dent, said the city is interested in buying the land be- cause it bas developed recreation amenities within the geographic centre of town and could also be suitable for park space, ; A replacement for Skeena Junior is to be built within a few years on land adjacent to Caledonia Senior Secondary and the school district wants to sell the Skeena lands to defray construction costs. The city already owns more than 101 hectares of green space but only 14 hectares, or 35 acres, of thal land is developed and suitable for organized sports like baseball, soccer or rugby, said Scatt. The cily also owns baseball diamonds at Rotary Fields, Elks Park and Riverside Park, with men’s and women’s soccer leagues leasing school district fields behind Skeena Junior and several Thornhill schools. Terrace minor soccer uses city-owned land at Christy Park at the north end of the horseshoe, If the Skeena lands were to be developed and sold to a private developer for building lots, playing ficlds would be lost and the there might be calls for the city to buy and develop replacement land, said Scott. “There would be unbearable pressure (on other fields),”” he added. The city, said Scott, owns hiking trails on hilly areas near city boundaries such as the bench trails, Terrace Mountain Nature Trail and Ferry Island, While the lat- ter location is large, there’s no thought of providing for playing fields there, he said, The most recent tax assessment for the Skeena fields, which may be taken as an indicator of market value, puls on a value of $659,000. Annual maintenance and operating costs would have to be taken into considera- tion. Scott said a city purchase plan could involve it selling the property closest to Munroe St, where the Skecna School itself now sits, to a real estate developer to cut costs of acquiring and operating the playing fields. School district maintenance supervisor Harry Eberts said land sold usually goes through a public tender pro- cess. “Anything that’s ever sold must go through public tender, unless we're informed we could do it other-

Eberts did add the city, if a sales plan does emerge, could seek approval from the education ministry to vary the tender requirement.

Here’s a list of city parks and trails:

* Riverside baseball park

* Rotary ficlds

* Christy Park

* Skeenaview Park

* Elks Park

* Howe Creek Trails

* Ferry Island

* Terrace Mountain trail municipal area

* Lower Little Park

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