Police

The C.F.S.E.U. was in the news this week, probably not in the way they would have liked. You may have seen the dash cam videos from Richmond showing a number of vehicles apparently brazenly running red lights. The story hit the news amid amazed comments about how bad drivers were becoming in the Lower Mainland.

Quite some time ago I wrote about an initiative to trade your ticket for driver training. I was very pleased with the outcome of the one instance that I tried on my own, but the program never took off as the provincial government required the RCMP to provide it to all drivers if it was implemented. The Victoria Police Department is trying something similar through Restorative Justice Victoria.

I was wondering when police have the power or ability to take or suspend a driver's licence or impound their vehicle.

Essentially, what are police powers to immediately prevent a driver from driving after a traffic stop?

Picture this: The colours of the dawn sky are magnificent as the sun rises over the mountainous mainland, the blue ocean below, the fresh morning air on your face, nothin’ but open road ahead - no cars to be seen, spreadeagled-reclined-on your Harley, not a care in the world, slowly cruising on the mountain pass highway. Beauty. Perfection.

I had stopped a speeding driver and was serving a copy of the violation ticket to her when I noticed a pickup truck pull in behind my police vehicle. When the ticket recipient pulled away the male driver exited his pickup and approached me. "You can't write speeding tickets here." he stated.

On April 24, 2012 an employee of Dueck Downtown Chevrolet Buick GMC Limited left a pickup truck unlocked, unattended and idling with the keys in the ignition outside one of the dealership's detailing bays. It was stolen by David Bolton.

Hi, I am a concerned citizen and home owner that lives on Blind Bay Road in the South Shuswap.

Problems with vehicles can range from overdue maintenance to modifications that may be described as fashion over function. Responsibility for their correction rests principally with the owner and driver. When that fails, it now falls to the police and designated inspection facilities to either nudge or force correction. Depending on the severity of the defects, remedies can range from a simple reminder to a tow truck and seizure of the vehicle license and number plates.

I can remember the anticipation when our highway patrol unit was issued it's first laser speed measuring device, an LTI 20/20 Marksman. Imagine! Here was a device that we could point at a single vehicle in the traffic stream and accurately measure only it's speed. It was fast enough to re-target and measure the vehicles around it too. No one would want to use hand held radar once we were trained on this.

Is it legal for the traffic police to hide when conducting enforcement? For example, hiding some where or at night and drivers cannot see them.