Despite the use of cellphones while driving continuing to be a scourge on the roads of Richmond and beyond, the city's top cop isn't comfortable with the prospect of confiscating devices.
With a growing number of offenders, Jamie Graham, Victoria's police chief, who's also head of the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police's traffic safety committee, is calling for the police to have the power to seize cellphones from distracted drivers.
Graham's motion, if the police chiefs pass it at a conference in June, will ask the government to increase the $167 fine for cellphone use and permit police to seize cellphones for 24 hours on a second offence and for three to five days on subsequent offences.
However, Richmond RCMP's Supt. Renny Nesset said this week that seizing offending driver's phones for up to five days comes with its own set of problems.
"I've heard a lot about this on the news, but we would have to protect the integrity of the information on that device," Nesset told city council's community safety committee.
"And I'm not sure that I want that responsibility."
Graham said it's time to "raise the ante" on a practise that's costing people their lives.
However, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association has grave concerns about police wanting to confiscate motorists' cellphones if they're caught talking on them or texting while driving.
While the liberties association acknowledges the serious safety problem distracted driving poses, it says the police are not supposed to be the punishers in society - that's for the courts.
Coun. Bill McNulty, on the other hand, would be happy to see the offenders lose their phones, cars and smashed with a hefty fine to boot.
"I think it's about time we stepped this up," he said.
"All I see is people driving around Richmond on their cellphones and I want to see the penalties increased.
"We have enough trouble as it is out there without this on our roads."
A novel suggestion to relieve an offending driver of the cellphone's battery was put forward by Coun. Evelina Halsey-Brandt.
"If we take away the battery, then (the phone) is not functional, it's not operational and they can come back in 72 hours and collect it," she said.
"You can fine them all you want, but some people think they're just above the law.
"If we try to say something to them, the language that comes out of their mouth? We should be doing all we can to make their lives miserable."
Nesset said he would pass the suggestions onto a traffic safety sub committee in Victoria.
