Traffic cop in the shop – hitting the road with Cst. Hazlewood, Traffic Services Officer

Lake Country

2023-03-21 09:15 PDT

For the past year, Lake Country drivers may have noticed another cop in the shop.

Cst. Owen Hazlewood joined the Lake Country Detachment last March as the detachment’s Traffic Services Officer and he’s been hitting the roads ever since. Cst. Hazlewood brings 19-years of experience as a traffic officer to the job.

The role of a traffic officer is to be a visible presence on the roads and highways and conduct both proactive and reactive vehicle stops enforcing the Motor Vehicle Act as well as the Criminal Code. A typical shift for Cst. Hazlewood includes stopping drivers for infractions such as not obeying the speed limit, responding to and investigating collisions, and conducting pro-active check stops.

Working as a traffic officer for as long as I have, you go to too many fatal collisions and so many serious crashes that all came down to one decision, the decision to drink and drive, which could have easily been avoided, states Cst. Owen Hazlewood.

RCMP officers in Lake Country are committed to keeping our roads safe. From March 9 to March 12, officers removed seven impaired drivers from the road. Officers regularly conduct check stops to locate impaired drivers; however, these drivers were all stopped on various roads and streets throughout our community at different times of the day and night. This not only speaks to the volume of impaired drivers who continue to drive while impaired, it also speaks to the effort our officers make to locate impaired drivers and take them off the road.

Cst. Hazlewood’s hard work and his dedication to duty has not gone unnoticed. Since its inception in 2008, Cst. Hazlewood has been a recipient of the Alexa Team Award and this year is no different. Alexa’s Team was founded over a decade ago in honor of Alexa Middelaer, a four-year-old girl from Delta, who was killed by an impaired driver in 2008. Alexa’s Team is a program that recognizes police officers who work to reduce the number of impaired drivers on B.C. roads.
In order to be a part of the Alexa Team, officers must have taken at least 12 impaired drivers off the road in the past 12 months by way of a Criminal Code investigation or an Immediate Roadside Prohibition. To be named an All Star in that same year officers must have taken at least 25 impaired drivers off the road. Cst. Hazlewood has also been honored as an All Star for taking over 45 impaired drivers off our roads.

Congratulations Cst. Hazlewood!

Photo of Cst. Hazlewood conducting a traffic stop with a driver in a black truck.

Released by

Cpl. Tammy Lobb

Media Relations Officer
Kelowna RCMP
1190 Richter Street
Office: 778-940-2430
Cell: 250-859-2065

Email: Kelowna_Media@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
Website: kelowna.rcmp.ca

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