On patrol with the Detachment Commander

Posted Feb 2, 2012 By Gerry Salisbury

Dear Editor:

The New Year has arrived and I hope everyone had a happy and healthy holiday season. The past year was an extremely busy one for our officers. In 2011, our officers attended more than 21,000 calls for service, laid 7,115 Provincial Offence notices and laid approximately 1,500 criminal charges.

Our officers completed more than 900 hours of foot patrol and our Detachment Auxiliary unit contributed a record 5,000 volunteer hours to the community. During the Festive RIDE season, our officers checked over 16,000 vehicles and I am pleased to say that very few drivers had been consuming alcohol.

We received the results of a recent Community Satisfaction survey and they were excellent. The communities we police felt very safe and they were very satisfied with the service we provide. The survey also indicated there is a strong desire for us to continue to focus our efforts on traffic safety, reducing property crimes, and reducing the use for illegal drugs. We have many initiatives in place to target these areas in 2012.

The one main traffic concern we continue to see is that many drivers are still talking on cell phones and even worse, texting while driving. In fact, we have had incidents where drivers were texting, and they drove right past a school bus with its red lights flashing, jeopardizing the safety of the young students getting off the bus. This habit has to change and our officers will be diligent in their enforcement of these offences.

As the snow flies and the lakes have started to freeze, we have attended a few incidents of snowmobiles going through the ice. I urge all operators of snow machines and those who venture out onto the ice to make sure they check the conditions constantly, be aware of your surroundings, and remember that operating a snow machine while consuming alcohol is illegal. Our Snowmobile Patrol program has started, so don't take any chances!

Let's work together to make 2012 a safe place to work and play in Lanark County and North and Central Frontenac.

Gerry Salisbury, Inspector

Lanark County OPP