Municipal enforcement services and RCMP in St. Albert are pooling manpower and resources with Edmonton police to tackle traffic problems at the St. Albert-Edmonton border.
The three forces teamed up to conduct speeding enforcement operations at three spots along the city borders on Sept. 25. Nearly 80 charges were laid against area drivers including one suspended driver being taken off the road.
“Joint operations between enforcement agencies allow officers to share best practices and learn new enforcement methods,” said Insp. Kevin Murray, detachment commander.
“The RCMP along with the Edmonton Police Service believe that cooperation between law enforcement is essential to public safety.”
All three law enforcement agencies plan to continue team enforcement operations and expand the approach to joint force Checkstops in the near future.
“We may wear different uniforms, but we have the same goal which is to stop death and injury on our roadways,” said Const. Jaden Courtney with the St. Albert RCMP Traffic Unit.
Morinville RCMP are still looking for the thieves who vandalized and stole parts from a grounded airplane at Villeneuve Airport at the end of August.
A Pacific Western Airlines Boeing 737 was broken into sometime between the night of Saturday, Aug. 23 and the morning of Sunday, Aug. 24.
Structural, support and electrical components from the plane were taken including an emergency hatch above the plane’s wing, estimated at $10,000 to $20,000 in value.
The plane is intended to become a public education display for the Alberta Aviation Museum’s second location at the Villeneuve Airport due to open next spring.
Canadian North Airlines has since donated an emergency hatch for the plane, says Thomas Hinderks, executive director of the museum.
Security on site has also been upgraded since the theft.
“We’re still quite concerned and we’re patrolling the aircraft between three and five times a week,” he says.
“The situation is better, but we wish it never happened.”
RCMP and museum officials suspect the thieves are familiar with aircraft. All the components that were taken are functional and can be used on other 737s.
The opening of the museum’s second location could be delayed until next summer with recent setbacks – including repairs to the damaged plane.
