In response to the article regarding: “In 2019, Alberta RCMP issued over 9,000 tickets to vehicle drivers and passengers for not wearing a seatbelt.”
Am I the only one who finds this statistic sickening? The people not wearing seatbelts is one thing. What I find sickening is that the Alberta RCMP is writing 9,000 tickets for this. For years, Albertans, especially in central Alberta, are witnessing rural crime spiralling out of control.
It is obvious (and my opinion) with this statistic, that the RCMP are putting rural crime on the backburner and have made the decision to spotlight and target traffic offences.
If you average a traffic stop at 10 minutes, multiplied by 9,000, that equates 1,500 hours spent writing nothing more than revenue seatbelt tickets.
I feel that 1,500 policing hours could have been better spent working on the rural crime issue, or any other serious issue, for that matter. People in this province are very concerned about the criminals that seem to be allowed to roam freely.
Let’s face it, solving and prosecuting real crime does not create revenue, therefore, it is not a priority. I believe every county in the province has peace officers. A lot of small towns have peace officers, and for our highways, if I am not mistaken, we have sheriffs to deal with traffic offences.
I can travel between Red Deer and Calgary and have seen as many as five speed traps, and the majority of them are RCMP. Again, why can they not get off the pavement and get on the gravel and deal with some more pressing issues we are facing?
My opinion is that the RCMP is under directive from our incompetent government officials (MLAs, mayors and the such) to downplay the serious crime issues the province has, and spend time on the highways generating revenue.
I would kindly challenge the RCMP to reply to this and fully explain to Albertans why so much time is being allotted to traffic duty, rather than getting to work on the real issues plaguing our province.
Scott Klimack, Lacombe County