Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 22/12/2016 (1372 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

You knew it was going to happen, and happen again.

Self-styled social-media champions of what’s right and wrong deciding to disrupt the holiday roadside program set up by Winnipeg police to catch and deter drunk drivers.

Checkmating the Checkstop program, so to speak, by revealing its nightly locations online.

Not surprisingly, two Facebook pages with similar objectives and names — Check Stop Alert Winnipeg and Winnipeg Checkstop Alert — have attracted thousands of followers. Some of them might be hoping to avoid being pulled over when they’ve been drinking. They don’t believe the purpose of the program is to take drunks off the road. It’s about driving revenue for the city, they say, and serving the police budget.

Such is the depth of public cynicism about the police service when it comes to traffic enforcement.

A recent post on Winnipeg Checkstop Alert supported their own view of the "real" intent of the Checkstop program: "Don’t be fooled by their marketing to ‘help get drunk drivers off the road’… that is how they get the public to support the program. Their real intention is revenue generation, ie; tickets for things that you would normally just receive a warning for."

The writer went on to offer examples he believes police are also on the lookout for: "a burnt-out bulb, snow on your licence plate, a broken headlight or tail light, the height of your vehicle, the type of tires on your vehicle, a various slew of other minor offences, including and not limited to low windshield washer fluid."

Do police officers, who advertise Checkstop as a program to stop drunk drivers, also take the opportunity to do other traffic enforcement? Are police taking the opportunity to hand out tickets and fines while they’re looking for drunk drivers, as advertised?

The answer is yes, and the statistics from this year’s Checkstop program confirm that. While police reported stopping 2,286 drivers during the campaign’s first two weeks, and charging 19 with impaired driving, they also issued 80 traffic-related provincial notices. It’s that kind of number drives a conspiratorial mind to use the power of social media against the power of the state. Apparently, the mission is to right a perceived wrong.

The recent posting on the Winnipeg Checkstop Alert had more to say about the police service and, in particular, the Facebook page’s past and present relationship with Checkstop and the cops.

"Last year, the WPS welcomed the Facebook groups for advertising and posting the locations of Checkstops and patrol cars because it let people know that they were out there," the posting stated. "Now this year they smear and say it’s unjust. You know what changed in the last year? Our groups have been doing their jobs, preventing thousands of citizens from being wrongfully ticketed for minor infractions. They felt this, they’re over-budget and can’t afford to run the Checkstops year-round like they initially planned. All they want is our money and they are doing it under the guise of ‘safety’ telling you it’s to get drunk drivers off the road so they can have justification to pull people over and ticket them..."

That may explain the police response Tuesday after I asked for its reaction to the Facebook groups.

"The fact that information is being shared on (social media) regarding Checkstop locations is one thing," a police spokesman responded. "However, if that messaging and intention complements our message regarding not drinking and driving, and it ultimately stops merely one person from getting behind the wheel while impaired, mission accomplished."

That appears to back up the pat on the back the social-media crusaders claim they received last year from the police service. But last year, Staff Sgt. Rob Riffel clearly told one media outlet that using Facebook to tell drivers where Checkstops were set up sends the wrong message.

Anyway, the police answer to my question Tuesday went on say this: "If the message is solely for the purpose of promoting impaired drivers or potentially impaired drivers to avoid or evade officers, that is a concern. No one wins, and all of us are put a higher risk as a result."

I don’t believe the Facebook groups are purposely out to help drunk drivers anymore than I think Checkstop is primarily a revenue grab in the guise of public safety.

Whether the group’s’ message is to help drunk drivers evade police isn’t what matters. The reality is that’s what it does.

Who’s to blame?

Well, both the crusaders and the cops.

The crusaders because they are giving drunk drivers an escape route that could lead down a dangerous road and to a dead end no one wants. As for the cops, social media wouldn’t be on their case if drivers didn’t feel unjustly targeted by being ticketed in school zones when school hasn’t even started or being caught in speed traps that have little to do with safety and a lot to do with topping up the city treasury.

There is a way for police to stop social media from targeting the Checkstop program and start reversing the perception it’s about revenue: stop writing minor traffic tickets at Checkstops, and start giving friendly warnings to innocents who hadn’t noticed their tail light wasn’t working. After all, it is Christmas, a time of goodwill toward all. Our police officers can use all the goodwill they can get.

Their collective agreement ends this month.

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca