Estevan's traffic blitz shows cooperation between province's police, support from community

Estevan's STEP blitz highlighted some of the city's roads as numerous officers kept an eye on drivers.

That included 30 officers from other centers, including both RCMP and local police forces from places like Regina, Saskatoon, and more.

The Estevan Police released their full results from the two-day blitz, looking at how many tickets and warnings were given out.

Deputy Chief Murray Cowan says there were some concerning results.

“I'll say it with a grain of salt here, with a little bit of concern, but there were 17 commercial vehicles inspected, with only four passing the inspection and 6 requiring attention, which means they could still use their vehicle however, they needed to conduct certain repairs. Seven were completely taken out of service as they were not roadworthy as a result of those inspections, so more concerning.” 

On the other side, Cowan said he was pleased to see they had no reports of impaired drivers from the two days.

“It's encouraging to see that there were no impaired drivers. Unfortunately, just the one-vehicle seizure was a result of the Drug Enforcement stop, which I believe was a 72-hour suspension, but other than that, it was very good.”  

They also had a good amount of support from the community through the blitz.

“I had folks reporting back to us saying that there was a lot of support out there and it's nice to hear and I think it's worth mentioning that other members are out there and our spotters are out there looking for offences. A lot of vehicles and folks who drive by and give us a thumbs-up, pump their horn in support of what we were doing in our initiative. So that's really great to see, there's a lot of support out there in the community for these types of initiatives.” 

Cowan says it's good to see so many officers from other regions, as Estevan Police officers prepare to head out to blitz in other cities.

“Geographically, we're a big province, but when it comes to policing, a lot of us know each other. We go on training courses together and interact with one another. These types of programs such as staff usually involve the same officers involved in traffic units from around the province, and so the folks get to know each other through various initiatives.” 

"Keeping in mind STEP,  it happens a few times a year in other agencies around the province, I believe the next one is in Moose Jaw and we will be sending members from Estevan to Moose Jaw to take part in that program. So it's something that SGI oversees and sponsors throughout the year."