MPI Pamphlets being handed out to motorists at the Checkstop in Cranberry Portage on Highway 10.
After several months of preparation and consultation with partners and stakeholders, the RCMP announces the newly formed RCMP Flin Flon area Traffic Services Unit.
The Traffic Unit will be comprised of six RCMP members and provide a permanent police presence on northern Manitoba highways. The RCMP Traffic Unit will be managed from the Cranberry Portage Detachment and traffic members will be based out of Flin Flon, Cranberry Portage, Snow Lake and Wabowden RCMP Detachments.
The focus of the Unit will be on enforcement, education and prevention in areas such as: impaired driving, unbelted occupants, excessive speed and intersection safety. The Unit will bolster the RCMP’s ability to reduce fatalities and injury collisions on northern highways as well as disrupt the activities of traveling criminals.
“The safety and security of motorists is paramount to the RCMP. Too often, families face devastating losses from impaired and careless drivers. I expect this new Traffic Unit will improve the safety of those traveling on northern highways and reduce the contraband transported into the surrounding communities,” said Assistant Commissioner Bill Robinson, Commanding Officer of RCMP “D” Division.
“We have toughened the laws against impaired driving by imposing stiffer jail sentences, increasing licence suspensions and doubling vehicle impoundment periods,” Justice Minister Dave Chomiak said. “But tougher laws are only part of the solution. This new RCMP traffic unit will play a key role in keeping impaired drivers off the roads and in halting the trade in illegal drugs or other contraband.”
“The safety of our people in all the northern communities will benefit from this added presence and I commend the Province and RCMP for taking the initiative to boost policing and ensure safety in the north,” said Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) Grand Chief Dr. Sydney Garrioch.
