An officer at the Houston RCMP detachment has been recognized for his efforts in removing impaired drivers from the road.
Constable Tyler Noble was named to Alexa’s Team for taking 15 drivers off the road during 2019.
Alexa’s Team is the name given to the program which notes the efforts made by police officers to reduce the number of drivers affected by alcohol or drugs on B.C.’s roads.
The program is named for Alexa Middelaer who was four years old when she was killed by an impaired driver in 2008, while feeding a horse with her aunt in Delta, B.C.
Noble, a three-year member of the RCMP, all of which has been spent in Houston, is a general duty constable at the detachment.
He’s also been trained as a drug recognition expert when it comes to assessing drivers as to possible drugs impairment.
And that makes him a particularly valuable member of the detachment, says detachment commanding officer Sgt. Mark Smaill.
“It’s quite an intensive course,” said Smaill of Noble’s drug recognition training. “Not everyone who takes it makes it.”
Noble will respond to calls coming into the detachment about suspicious drivers, respond to motor vehicle incidents and generally keep an eye out when patrolling during his shifts.
Since its inception, Alexa’s Team has grown from 26 to more than 2,900 new and returning Alexa’s Team members from the RCMP and municipal police forces from all regions of the province. Since 2008, an estimated 102,841 impaired drivers have been removed from BC’s roads for alcohol and drug related driving offences, indicates a RCMP press release.
To be considered for Alexa’s Team, an officer must remove a minimum of 12 drivers from the road by way of a 24-hour prohibition, immediate roadside prohibition, administrative driving prohibition, drug recognition evaluation or Criminal Code investigation in one year.
In 2019, 293 police officers removed an estimated 9369 impaired drivers from BC’s roads and highways. Of those, BC RCMP Traffic Services represented 98 officers which removed an estimated 3380 impaired drivers from our highways across the province.
In northern B.C., Noble was one of 13 named to the Alexa program for 2019.