Calgary police stage checkstop on National Impaired Driving Enforcement Day

Calgary police launched their first holiday checkstop Saturday night on Stoney Trail near Tsuu T'ina Nation.

Working with members of Alberta Sheriffs, RCMP and Tsuu T’ina Nation police, members of the Calgary police administered breathalyzer tests to motorists including one familiar figure: Santa.

Calgary police Chief Constable Mark Neufeld, who has been a police officer for 33 years, said that was a first for him.

“That’s the first time in all my checkstops I’ve seen Santa come through so I thought, we’re going to find out if he’s on the naughty list or the nice list – and he was absolutely on the nice list," Neufeld said.

“He told us we were on the nice list too, so I think everybody’s looking good heading to Dec. 25.”

Neufeld was on hand to encourage traffic enforcement officials and to speak with the media on National Impaired Driving Enforcement Day.

While holiday checkstops are a familiar sight during the holidays, Neufeld admitted that the consumption of cannabis and other drugs has made assessing potentially impaired drivers more challenging.

“It’s an added complexity for sure,” Neufeld said.

Calgary police chief Mark Neufeld at a checkstop held Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024

“It’s not just alcohol we’re screening for now, it’s drugs of all kinds, including marijuana, which is harder to screen for,” he added, “but we’ve got officers that are recognition experts and we’ve got the tools here, to figure out who’s naughty and who’s nice.”

As far as the delayed impact presented by edibles, Neufeld said anyone experimenting with them should make a simple decision.

“We would encourage people, if you’re experimenting with edibles and all that, don’t drive,” he said.

'Huge' impact

Aaron Libby, the president of Mothers Against Drunk Diving (MADD) Calgary, said the impact of having such a high-visibility checkstop to launch the holiday season was “huge.”

“Especially for us victims and survivors of impaired driving,” Libby added. “We do a lot of advocacy about impaired driving and (reinforcing the idea of) 'have a safe sober ride home.'

“This just amplifies the same common goal: stop impaired driving," he added. "Tonight there’s 39 officers out.

“That’s the most I’ve seen in years.”

Libby said that  approximately 1,200 breath samples were administered at two different locations over four hours Saturday night.

Neufeld and Libby both stressed the alternatives to impaired driving that everyone heading out for a holiday event should consider, including cabs, Uber or designated drivers.

With files from CTV's Darren Wright