By Sgt. Bob Vatamaniuck

The last two weeks over the holidays the Columbia Valley RCMP responded to about 90 calls for service; last year that number was a bit higher at 145. The following is a summary of a couple of the more interesting calls.

Christmas Eve impaired driver

On December 24, at about 3 a.m., Columbia Valley RCMP was on patrol in Invermere when an officer pulled over a Chevrolet Silverado. When the officer approached and spoke to the driver he noted that the driver was slurring his words, had reddish bloodshot eyes and a strong odour of liquor coming from the vehicle. The driver was demanded to provide samples of his breath into a screening device; two samples were taken and both registered as a “Fail.” As a result, the young driver lost his driver’s licence for 90 days and his truck was seized and will be impounded for 30 days.

SOS ruled out

During the late afternoon of December 26, RCMP received a complaint of a flashing light on one of the hills near Mount Swansea; the complainant was concerned that it was distress signal. RCMP recognized the area and realized there is a flashing light on a tower in the vicinity. Police worked with the complainant and were able to confirm that it was the light emanating from the tower rather than a signal of distress.

Highway closed as three-vehicle crash sorted out

On December 28, at about 1:30 p.m., Columbia Valley RCMP received a call that there was a serious three-vehicle motor vehicle incident on Highway 93/95 near Dry Gulch.

RCMP attended along with personnel from BC Ambulance and Radium Fire Department. Once on scene it was obvious that the poor weather conditions led a small car to lose control on the icy highway and enter a skid. As the car was out of control it eventually struck two large half-ton trucks that were travelling at reasonable rates of speed. The highway had to be closed for a couple of hours as the vehicles prevented any safe travel in the area.  Fortunately, the injuries were not considered serious and there were no signs of impairment on any of the drivers. The poor weather and icy highways contributed to the cause and consequently no violation tickets were issued.

Some stats for 2017

Now that 2017 is behind us I thought this a good opportunity to share some 2017 statistics.

During the 12 months RCMP responded to 3,147 calls for service while that number was 3,175 in 2016 and 3,162 in 2015. Those calls surrounded about 500 false alarms and abandoned 911 events while we also received about 300 calls relating to poor driving behaviour.

We received close to 200 reports of motor vehicle collisions while we entered about 100 impaired driving investigations. We also attended to about 100 calls to mediate domestic disputes. The summer witnessed the RCMP responding to about 50 calls relating to the fire and backcountry bans. We’d like to thank to community for the overwhelming support throughout the past year and we look forward to working with everyone in 2018!

– Sgt. Bob Vatamaniuck is Columbia Valley RCMP Detachment commander.

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