Two Prince Albert police officers recognized for impaired driving enforcement efforts

bert Police Service (PAPS) officers were recognized for their efforts in impaired driving enforcement at a ceremony at city hall on Tuesday.

Two Prince Albert police officers were recognized Monday for their work in getting impaired drivers off the streets.

Const. Tyler Klyne and Const. Kyle Klyne each received a Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Canada Award for their efforts in 2022.

“I met the [Van de Vorst family] last year and to see the look in their eyes and just to feel the pain that they have gone through, I put that in my forefront to go out there and get impaired drivers off the streets,” he said, noting he’s been a part of over 350 impaired driving investigations.

The Award comes with a certificate, a letter of thanks from the Van de Vorst family, and a Challenge Coin that signifies how many impaired drivers that officer removed from the roads in the last calendar year. The Silver Coin is awarded to those who charged between eight and 16 impaired drivers, the Gold Coin to those with 17 or more charges, and the Platinum Award to officers who charged 40 or more.

Insp. Craig Mushka is in charge of the Support Services division that oversees Combined Traffic Services and praised the officers’ work in their commitment to keeping Prince Albert impaired driver free. He also said they have no plans in slowing down their efforts in making streets safer.

“In acknowledging the Members efforts here today, I really look forward to the new year resulting from the hard work of each member assigned to the unit and their commitment and dedication to impaired driving. You’re going to see an increase in our enforcement efforts, specifically when it comes to impaired driving, and we look forward to continuing that enforcement going into 2025.”

Police Chief Patrick Nogier piggybacked off Mushka, adding that Prince Albert officers laid 67 impaired driving charges last year.

“That number in itself is a bit alarming in that the community is really not picking up messaging with respect to how dangerous this activity is,” he explained. “You combine that with the fact that we had 20 administrative suspensions for impaired driving and an additional 40 for drug impaired driving. When you start tallying up those numbers, you’re in excess of 120 different types of occurrences.”

“Even though we’re recognizing the exceptional work by two officers here today, part of what we do is making sure that the community understands that we are a police service with dedicated resources and professionals that will hold people accountable if they choose to make bad decisions about operating their vehicle while impaired, but more importantly, do what’s right for the community. Making sure that you’re making those arrangements for a safe ride home, utilizing friends and or family to ensure that the end of the day number one, you’re not looking at a criminal conviction, and number two, you’re keeping Prince Albert safe for everyone.”

According to MADD Canada, on average, nine federal criminal charges and provincial short-term license suspensions are laid for impaired driving every single hour, 206 impaired driving charges and short-term suspensions are laid daily, and 78,480 impaired driving charges and short-term suspensions are laid annually.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com