The New Westminster Police Department has a new tool in the fight against unsafe commercial vehicles – its very own commercial vehicle enforcement unit.
The unit is the first of its kind for the department, which in the past has relied on its own police officers and officers from the province’s Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement (CVSE) program.
The two-person, peace officer unit was officially sworn in on Tuesday. Both hires, Randy Fullerton and Ryan Curtis, have nearly three years experience working as commercial vehicle inspectors with the CVSE, which was one of the reasons they were hired, according to Staff Sgt. Trevor Dudar, who helped facilitate their hiring.
“We were ideally seeking trained candidates so that they could be deployed quickly,” Dudar said. “We don’t have the in-house skill set to train them, so that’s why we were seeking their skill set and discipline.”
While both Fullerton and Curtis, who occupy the title of special constable, have the required experience and training to begin inspections right away, they still need to be trained in the procedures of the New Westminster Police Department. They are also required to learn the department’s mandate for the unit, something the department created once the unit was approved by city hall.
Dudar said department officials had to determine what the role and function of the new unit would be before they could even begin the hiring process. Now that the process is complete, it’s up to Fullerton and Curtis to fulfill the mandate set out by the department.
“They had some exposure to how we did business,” Dudar said, speaking to Fullerton and Curtis’ experience conducting inspections in New West while they were still with the CVSE.
“It was a great opportunity for them to have an understanding about the type of work we do, the quality of work we want to do, the message we want to send and an understanding of what we’re mandated to do,” he added.
For the next few weeks, Fullerton and Curtis will familiarize themselves with the department procedures and protocols. Only then will they begin field training.
“Where they get to go out and do their job but they’ll just have a traffic member with them just to ensure that they’re doing things the way New Westminster does things,” he said.
While Dudar couldn’t predict what effect the new unit will have on commercial vehicle traffic in the city, he does believe they will help make the roads safer.
“The whole idea is that whatever traffic comes through New West we just want it to be safe,” he said. “There’s many different areas that we have to cover and there’s also an education component.”
Dudar said the new dedicated unit is a great addition to the police department, as most police officers don’t have the knowledge and skills that Fullerton and Curtis gained while working at the CVSE.
“Unfortunately, in a police organization members transfer between units,” he said. “So, if you build that skill set up in a member in the traffic unit, within three or four years they apply for a different unit and they’re no longer doing that job.”
The commercial vehicle enforcement unit is expected to be on the roads conducting inspections throughout the city, including obvious trouble areas, by the end of the month.
