This is a disturbing policy by the RCMP in Nelson.
Before moving to Victoria, I lived and taught in the area for 25 years.
On Sunday, May 5 at 4 p.m., I went to Safeway in Nelson, bought some groceries then some liquor at the B.C. liquor store. I got into my car and was followed by an RCMP traffic officer. He pulled me over near the NAPA store. I asked him what I had done wrong. He said I had nothing wrong, but, because I had come out of the liquor store, he suspected me of drinking and driving. I assured him I hadn’t been, and asked why going to the liquor store was a reason to pull me over. That, according to him, was enough to give him reasonable grounds to suspect I had alcohol in my system.
He then made me take a breathalyzer test, saying they are required to do this at every traffic stop. I blew zero. According to his corporal, whom I spoke with the next day, he had done this to 15 people that day. He parked in the Safeway parking lot and stopped people who had patronized the liquor store.
Is this legal? Can the RCMP use tactics like this? (Editor’s note: RCMP confirmed to the Nelson Star this is indeed a common practice.)
If simply going about your day is grounds for suspicion of illegal activity, I can only guess at what may happen next. Had I been, say, a teacher in Nelson, and a student saw me blowing a breathalyzer at 4 p.m. on a Sunday, that could be a career changer.
I was raised to have respect for law enforcement, and have acted accordingly. But this action has sullied my perception of the RCMP, an organization that is already on shaky grounds with the general public they are sworn to serve.
Ken Wiens
Victoria, formerly from Nelson
