Police Service Dog Lady takes a break from sniffing for drugs with BC Highway Patrol.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/RCMP
April 02, 2025 - 1:27 PM
BC Highway Patrol cracked down on impaired driving, drugs and illegal tobacco in the Okanagan in an operation two weeks ago.
Police handed out 35 tickets to commercial drivers, caught 18 impaired drivers, seized drugs and tobacco 27 times and removed two commercial vehicles from service between March 16 and 20, according to a press release from the RCMP.
“Many people don’t realize that BC Highway Patrol is trained to do more than look for unsafe driving behaviour,” officer in charge of Special Traffic OperationsInsp Supt. Lori Orstad said in the release.
“We have officers trained in security awareness and crime-detection techniques for identifying traveling criminals and we also use drug-detection dogs.”
BC Highway Patrol had its Integrated Impaired Driving Unit, Traffic Safety Unit, Police Dog Service and officers from local Okanagan detachments help with the crackdown.
The operation was focused on West Kelowna, Osoyoos and Penticton but BC Highway Patrol said it will have surprise road safety checkpoints all year long.
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