Drivers witnessing traffic chaos on local highways could soon see quicker police response, when Delta police take over answering calls about crashes and crazy drivers on Hwys. 17A, 91 and 99.
The municipal force was supposed to take over such duties from the RCMP’s BC Highway Patrol last September, allowing the RCMP to focus solely on enforcement, such as speed traps, seat belt checks or CheckStops, but the transition has been shelved for several months.
Now, the change is expected at some point within the next year, said Acting Insp. James Sandberg, with the Delta Police Department.
Doing so will also allow RCMP to focus solely on enforcement, which mean they could still be active within Delta, but it will be up to police to respond to collisions, fatalities and erratic drivers.
Sandberg said that BC Highway Patrol covers a large area and relies on cooperating with local forces.
“We will be more responsive to calls for service and we’ll be in a better position to provide pro-active enforcement because we are already here …” said Sandberg.
With a larger pool of officers, “We’ll be able to respond quite quickly because we’re closer and the mandate for front line policing is greater than what the highway patrol mandate is, and as a result of that larger mandate, we have more people readily available.”
That will be because more officers located locally can respond quicker than a RCMP car which may have to come from Langley.
“The anticipation is that the transition will still occur some time in the near future,” Sandberg said.
Delta police already patrol and respond to incidents on Hwy. 17 assisting RCMP when responding to incidents on those roads and on the Alex Fraser Bridge.
The department has already been preparing to take on the extra work of being the first responder to what adds up to another 68 km of highway.
The department did a study on taking over the highways from the RCMP and found it will cost a million dollars a year and require the eventual hiring of another six officers.
But the budget has been approved and the police are ready to hire more officers once a decision has been made.
“We’re in good shape. There are plans in place,” Sandberg said.
The Alex Fraser Bridge will be part of the new territory while Delta police will also work with Richmond RCMP on responding to incidents in the George Massey Tunnel.
The Surrey Police Service becomes the police of jurisdiction in Surrey on Nov. 29, but that won’t impact policing on highways in Delta in any way, Sandberg added.
Surrey police media relations officer Ian MacDonald, said RCMP will continue to be responsible for responding to incidents on Hwys. 99 and 1, when Surrey police take over.
