The Sundre RCMP detachment received 171 calls for service from Aug. 12 to Sept. 8, including the following:
Property crimes — 36
Crime prevention, assistance to public and other agencies — 29
Motor vehicle collisions — 21
Traffic complaints — 20
Suspicious person, vehicle or property —14
911 hang-ups / false alarms — 9
Breach of peace/cause disturbance — 7
Abandoned motor vehicles — 5
Lost and found — 4
Careless use of firearm — 3
Person crimes — 3
Impaired drivers — 2
Breach/failure to comply with court order — 2
Animal calls — 3
Drive while disqualified — 1
Liquor Act — 1
Stop for flashing red lights
The Sundre RCMP detachment would like to remind drivers that they play a key role in back-to-school safety. Be alert and extra cautious in and around school zones and playgrounds as well as near school buses. According to the Alberta government's website www.saferoads.com, nearly 50 per cent of the drivers involved in collisions with school buses committed an error. The most common error was following too closely. On an average year, approximately 238 children under 15 are killed or injured as pedestrians or cyclists (2010-2014). School buses in Alberta travel an estimated 450,000 kilometres a day — that's more than 10 times around the earth. Seventy per cent of casualty collisions and nearly 90 per cent of property damage collisions involving a school bus occurred in urban areas. Your local RCMP officers will be focusing on back-to-school safety, so let's make sure kids get to and from school safely this year. The penalty for failing to stop for a school bus with its alternating flashing red lights activated is $543 and six demerit points, while failing to yield to a pedestrian within a crosswalk is a $776 citation and four demerits.
Shooting complaints
The Sundre RCMP continues to receive complaints regarding the careless use of firearms. People participating in discharging firearms need to be cognizant of where they are shooting and that they are ultimately responsible for where that projectile goes. One of these matters occurred sometime during the month of July when a gate at a property on Coal Camp Road near the Red Deer River Ranch was struck by a bullet. Another incident over the summer included persons shooting across the Red Deer River as rafters were coming down it. The criminal, civil and moral liability should an innocent person get wounded or killed is huge, so please use common sense and proper safety practices when using firearms.
Yet another impaired driver removed from the roads
On the evening of Aug. 30, officers were Westbound on Highway 27 near the Little Red Deer River store when a truck pulling a boat and trailer heading eastbound passed them. The lights on the trailer were not illuminated so the members initiated a traffic stop. The driver had an odour of liquor, was in possession of liquor and appeared unsteady on his feet. Police attempted to conduct a roadside sobriety check on the male but the male refused to cooperate and attempted to get back into his vehicle. Bradley Baxandall, 23, of Water Valley faces criminal charges for refusing to provide a breath sample, obstruction, resist arrest, mischief, failure to comply with a court order plus provincial charges. Baxandall was released to appear in Didsbury provincial court on Sept. 26.
