Ridge Meadows RCMP is cracking down on drivers in Pitt Meadows, according to a reporter shared at a recent Pitt Meadows city council meeting.

Insp. Adam Gander explained that the RCMP Road Safety Target Team was responsible for 49 impaired driving investigations and 549 violation tickets in Pitt Meadows in 2022.

Compared to 2021, this was a 24 per cent decrease in impaired driving investigations, but a sharp 39 per cent increase in the number of tickets handed out.

“Violation tickets can be any kind of – seatbelts, using your phone, speeding – we really pushed hard this year for the teams to target that,” explained Gander.

“A lot of that was also using the Black Cat, which is a box we can put out in the community and see how fast vehicles are going. We can pull that data after a week of being out there and looking at what times we should be out there, what days, and have our enforcement teams be driven by what the data is showing us.”

It doesn't matter if it is 3am or 3pm..
This vehicle was travelling on Lougheed Highway near Allen Way in the @citypittmeadows at nearly double the posted speed limit when stopped by Police.
This resulted in a Vehicle Impoundment and VT issued,
Slow down and use your #RoadSense pic.twitter.com/O17TLaJ8ua

— Ridge Meadows RCMP (@RidgeRCMP) February 22, 2023

In addition to using tools like the Black Cat Radar, Ridge Meadows RCMP is also planning on introducing a new “Don’t Press Your Luck” distracted driving initiative, said Staff Sgt. Michelle Luca.

“March is distracted driving for ICBC,” explained Luca.

“I’m not going to give too much away, but you may see us on St. Paddy’s Day working with ICBC on our joint collaborative initiative where we will be looking to educate and enforce drivers regarding distracted driving and likely speed and maybe other infractions.”

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Luca said that RCMP members will also be at the Pitt Meadows Family Recreation Centre on Friday, March 17 to do some work with underage community members.

“We’re hoping the youth will come to the youth centre and come engage in some games against the cops and see if they’ll press their luck against us,” said the Staff Sergeant.

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The same RCMP report also provided additional crime statistics, including the number of persons crimes in Pitt Meadows, which rose by 12 per cent in 2022, to a total of 179 cases.

“Pitt Meadows is smaller, so when you have 179 people, you’re going to see quite a variance when you have less amount of people in that stat,” explained Insp. Gander.

“What it ended up being was 19 more investigations regarding persons crimes, so that’s why it’s showing you a 12 per cent increase.”

Meanwhile, the number of property crime cases remained fairly consistent at 608, which was actually a 2 per cent decrease from 2021.

The number of mental health calls also declined in Pitt Meadows, finishing the year with 228, which was down 8 per cent from 2021.