Police Beat – The Roy Report becomes the Rob Report

After a decade of service and support for the community, Staff Sergeant Tom Roy has moved on to help out in a community in the south east corner of the Province.

Staff Sergeant Roy had developed quite a following of readers over the years leaving big shoes to fill, but as a relatively new member to the community, I’ll do my best to keep the folks of Fort Nelson informed and hopefully entertained with the day-to-day policing in town. The Fort Nelson RCMP received calls resulting in 79 new files in the past week (from January 20th to 27th), including several bars fights, unwanted guests or publicly intoxicated individuals, domestic disturbances, mischief, shoplifting, criminal harassment, threats, traffic stops, and false alarms.

Things heating up

at the Hot Springs

A 27-year-old man came to town this past week to meet up with friends and party, but after having contact with police three times over the weekend the visitor left town with an assault charge and a court date.

On Saturday night the male was partying at the Liard Hot Springs but after becoming extremely intoxicated he turned verbally abusive toward the other guests and when a young female asked the man to stop, he responded with a right fist that broke the youth’s nose.

The friend of this assaultive male was none too impressed and attempted to take action, resulting in some swollen facial features of his own. The young girl was transported to Fort Nelson General Hospital and treated for her injuries. Thanks to the help of several witnesses, police were provided with a clear picture of what took place and the evidence needed to make an arrest and make sure that this man’s next visit to Fort Nelson will be to visit with a judge.

Seeing red on the greens

When snowmobilers realised that there just wasn’t enough open area and trails to ride in and around the Fort Nelson community they thought the best solution would be to head for the golf course.

On Friday night management at the Poplar Hills Golf & Country Club heard the high pitched whine of snowmobiles nearby but it wasn’t until the next day that they saw the tracks and realised that the machines had broken through a fence and entered the grounds. Not only racing across fairways but deliberately riding into the roped off greens and causing damage in excess of $5,000.

Police have had very few issues with snowmobilers this winter but there are a few out there that lack something leading to irresponsible and reckless behaviour like this and they create a reputation for other snowmobile enthusiasts that is not deserved.

If anyone has information that can aid in this ongoing investigation please contact the Fort Nelson RCMP.

Intoxicated and he knows it

Shortly before midnight on Saturday while driving down a residential street near the RCMP detachment, a female motorist spotted a dark figure staggering and stumbling down the middle of the road. Putting fear aside, the brave citizen stopped to offer assistance only to have the 20 -year-old man climb into her front passenger seat and promptly pass out.

Realizing that she was only blocks from the RCMP detachment, the good Samaritan delivered the intoxicated man to police possibly preventing him from freezing to death overnight. Police gave the young man a warm place to sleep for the night and released him in the morning with a court date after finding that he was in breach of curfew and conditions not to consume alcohol.

A great deal of police work involves helping people even when they are not in a position to realize that they need help. This young man may not be very thankful for the help that he received by a passing motorist but on his behalf the police would like to thank you for taking action. Police would not recommend picking up strangers but when a person unexpectedly climbs into your car, heading straight for the police station is pretty smart choice. The one that didn’t get away:

As mentioned already it’s always one or two individuals making poor decisions that leads to an undeserved reputation for a specific group of people. When it comes to operating recreational vehicles, be it snowmobiles or quads, this couldn’t be more true.

A tendency to ignore the rules and ignore police by the few that choose to is both dangerous and unfortunately, too common.

Police do not always stop Quads and snowmobiles simply because many choose to flee at high speed causing a greater risk to the public.

However, should an officer or a member of the public identify the driver, charges can be laid under the Motor Vehicle Act including a $598 fine for no insurance or, under the Criminal Code for Flight from Police. In the early Sunday morning hours police were out making general patrols when they spotted a snowmobiler on 53rd St.

The officer believed that he recognized the rider and stopped to speak with him, but the snowmobiler appeared to have other plans but when he hit the throttle his machine became stuck and his plans quickly changed involuntarily.

Although the operator of the stuck machine was not who the officer first believed him to be, the young man was known to police and after the officer detected an odour of liquor on the man’s breath proceeded to administer a breath test, which the rider failed resulting in a 30-day impoundment of the snowmobile and the loss of his driver’s licence for 90 days.

Constable Robert Gossmann

Cst Robert Gossmann and his wife Cst Sheryl Gossmann, came to Fort Nelson in mid-June of 2013 from the Lower Mainland after requesting transfer to a Northern Post. Although the two met in High school Law class, both had full and very different careers and raised a family of two sons before becoming RCMP members. The Gossmann’s have met some of the nicest people here and look forward to serving the community of Fort Nelson for at least a full four years and hopefully longer. We at the Fort Nelson News are so pleased to welcome the Grossmanns and to be able to continue the popular Police Beat column.