Recognizing his efforts to get impaired drivers off the road, Const. Joe Power of the North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP has been named to Alexa's Team.
The program is named for Alexa Middelaer, who was just four-and-a-half years old when she was killed by a drunk driver on a rural road in Ladner in 2008.
The Middelaer family, the BCAA Road Safety Association and ICBC partnered to create Alexa's Team in 2009, recognizing RCMP and municipal police officers in B.C. who have demonstrated a strong commitment to taking impaired drivers off the streets. Officers selected for the 2013 team were required to have taken at least 12 criminally impaired drivers off the road through a Criminal Code investigation or the Immediate Roadside Prohibition administrative process.
Power was one of 312 officers in B.C. to make the team.
"It's such a great honour to be a part of Alexa's team," he said. "My goal wasn't to be nominated to the team so much as to get these drivers off the road, but I'm truly honoured to be selected. I would like to thank my watch for supporting me while I was out there checking for drunk drivers. I just missed being a part of Alexa's team in 2012 so it's nice to have made it this year."
Alexa's Team has grown to over 1,300 officers since its founding.