Dear Editor,
Re: “RCMP fail to stop traffic violators,” Letters, Sept. 11.
In response to Mr. Bulloch’s letter to the editor, there is an expression that many of us know — “Walk a mile in a man’s shoes before you judge him.”
Mr. Bulloch’s letter over simplifies the issue as he is probably unaware of what is actually going on in that police vehicle at the time of the incident.
Passing a quick judgement, out of obvious frustration, does not justify the argument that the RCMP is ill-equipped to do city policing and a city police force would do a better job.
I, too, feel frustrated with the driving behaviors on our streets. However, this problem is not new, nor is it limited to Richmond. And traffic enforcement priorities are often placed at the bottom by the administration in many police departments in Canada.
As a result, the administration frequently depletes the traffic enforcement section to bring the staffing level of other sections to an acceptable level.
Simply put, the dedicated traffic enforcement officers are not doing traffic enforcement. That leaves us with patrol officers to do traffic enforcement, as well as attending calls, carrying on investigations, going to court, taking statements, meeting with various agencies , etc.
Having worked in various cities in the Lower Mainland for 20 years, I have experienced many 12-hour shifts where there were just too many priority calls to attend to, and too few officers on patrol to deal with it all.
In those moments, you often have to let go of traffic violations, as seen by Mr. Bulloch, because you have no other choice.
No officer I know likes to ignore those, but there are too many other priority calls.
There are so many variants as to why this officer in particular did not react to the offence it is futile to list them.
What I have experienced is that traffic enforcement is scarce in the Lower Mainland, be it in RCMP or city police jurisdictions, and there is a shortage of police officers.
If you feel strongly about a violation, please record the licence plate number and type of vehicle, then report the offence to the local police with your written statement and request that a ticket be issued, not a warning.
If you have a question about an officer’s actions or lack thereof, then contact the patrol supervisor that same day.
As for Mr. Bulloch’s statement that Richmond needs a city police force to tackle the lack of traffic enforcement, this is simplistic and misguided. Furthermore, to say that a private security company could do traffic enforcement is dismissing this specialized field of law enforcement and calling it amateurish.
Traffic enforcement is a complex policing issue for Canadian city police forces and RCMP alike. Canadian traffic enforcement officers have been continuously urging their own agencies to make traffic enforcement a priority.
There have been changes, but not a strong continuous commitment from Canadian police administrators.
Ten years ago, the provincial government initiated the Integrated Road Safety Units (IRSU) throughout the province to address traffic enforcement on our roads. IRSU was created to clamp down on aggressive and dangerous driving behaviours and target problem areas identified by the local police.
IRSU was made up of officers from RCMP and city police forces. The idea was that IRSU would visit each city and do targeted enforcement on a rotational basis. The IRSU idea was a good, but police forces still have to take personnel away from their staffing level to send to these integrated units; no job created here, either IRSU is short on personnel or the local forces are.
I used to see four to six IRSU officers here in Richmond; they often worked Steveston Highway and high crash intersections.
It made a difference, but for the past four years, Richmond has been ignored.
Where are they?
How many are there now?
IRSU is still in service, but not here.
Lastly, if B.C. residents are serious about traffic enforcement, I would suggest that the province creates its own provincial highway patrol that operates independently from local police forces.
Such highway patrol units are staffed by dedicated and highly specialized officers so local agencies can keep their officers to do local traffic enforcement.
Nathalie Bourget
Retired Traffic Enforcement Supervisor
