On Friday October 23rd, members of the Chestermere RCMP were out in full force doing their part to keep impaired drivers off our streets as a checkstop was set up on Chestermere Blvd. just west of the Rainbow Road intersection. I had the fortunate opportunity to tag along with them and see firsthand how checkstops run.
Cpl. Lori Eiler, who has served with the RCMP for fourteen years, headed up the checkstop Friday night. After a quick orientation, signing of some paperwork and getting my reflective vest on, we left the detachment and headed out to the checkstop location. In a calculated parking set up, the RCMP vehicles lined up down the median, lights flashing, and one by one the incoming vehicles slow down and the checks begin.
The process ran pretty smoothly for most. Cpl. Eiler started every check with “Good evening, we’re just out doing an Alberta checkstop.” Following that, it was the standard “where are you heading?”, “where have you been?”, “have you been drinking tonight?”.. and with that, as long as Cpl. Eiler felt the questions were answered honestly and nothing seemed off, they were wished a good evening and sent on their way. Should Cpl. Eiler or any of the officers find something suspicious or needed further information, the driver was instructed to pull over the side of the road. In the hour that I spent with them, there were a couple drivers that were asked to pull over to the side and perform the blow test that would indicate if they’d been drinking. In these instances, they blew under the limit and were released.
The purpose of these checkstops is to check for impaired drivers, whether that be alcohol or drugs, no seatbelts, etc. There were a few drivers that were warned for a burned out headlight, trucks with no mud flaps and window tint, but as that is not the purpose of the checkstop, those drivers were sent on their way with a warning to make these corrections so they didn’t get ticketed in the future.
The Alberta Enhanced Checkstop Program was developed through a pilot program in 2007-2008. As a result of this pilot, the program was implemented province wide in 2008. The key objectives of the program are to: promote a renewed Checkstop program by raising its profile with Albertans; raise public awareness of impaired driving and its consequences; to show a strong, unified commitment across Alberta by uniting members from the major enforcement agencies (i.e., Calgary Police Service, Edmonton Police Service, Alberta Sheriffs and the RCMP); and to share operational expertise between enforcement agencies. Funding for these additional Checkstop events has been available from Alberta Transportation’s Office of Traffic Safety. The key message of this program is, “If you drink and drive, you will be caught,” and serves as a reminder that the province and its police services have adopted a no-nonsense approach to impaired driving enforcement.
Cpl. Eisler commented, “performing checkstops has dual purpose. It obviously tries to stop anyone who might be driving under the influence but also shows the community and those not from our community, that we (the RCMP) are a visible presence”.
Towards the end of Friday night’s checkstop, officers did stop an impaired driver, which in the words of Cpl. Eisler, “we consider that a successful checkstop”.
