Speeders, problem animals and unsightly properties are top incidents for peace officers in Woodlands County

By Serena Lapointe
Since February 2023, Woodlands County and Lac Ste. Anne County have been engaged in a
five-year contract that sees Woodlands County receive 80 hours of enforcement services in
designated areas per month and monthly reports on the actions of officers. Before the municipal
election, Sgt. Dallas Choma and Sgt Dustin Jendrick of Lac Ste. Anne County Enforcement
Services presented their mid-year report to Woodlands County Council.
From January to August, there were 83 citations. “Ticket revenue for you guys is $17,345, of
which half goes to the province,” said Sgt Choma. Fine amounts that were not issued from
seventeen warnings given, totalled $3,327. Speeding was the single biggest offence on the list,
making up 48.19 percent of the citations. The next highest was drivers operating without a
certificate of registration, at 6.02 percent.
Reeve Dave Kusch asked if the speeding incidents were spread across the municipality. “We’ve
been getting a lot of complaints from councillors and senior leadership, as well as residents,
about where we need to set up operations or where the majority of the speeding is going on. A
lot of it is complaint-based. A lot of our operations that we conducted were in Blue Ridge with
the haul trucks, as well as the general public travelling through there,” said Sgt Choma. He
added that speeders have also been nabbed on West Mountain Road, including those passing
school buses.
Sgt Jendrick said he caught one driver doing 54 kilometres over the posted speed limit, landing
an immediate court summons. He said others have gotten very close. “There have been quite a
few where it’s getting close to that summons situation. When they are issued a mandatory
summons for court, they must go before a justice and speak to the matter, and if they don’t
attend, a warrant is issued,” he explained.
From January to August, there were 73 incidents reported. Most reports came through the
dispatch centre. The second-highest method was through administrative directives. One that
Sgt Choma touched on was animal control. “We are still struggling with that one. We’re having a
lot of issues with livestock, especially in the Fort Assiniboine area, and we really have no teeth
to bite and issue citations and deal with the matters.”

Sgt Choma said they are working on creating a bylaw for Woodlands County with senior
leadership and hope to have it brought forward for approval soon. “We are trying to sift through
those the best we can and trying to pull from different legislation where we can and talk to the
people and educate the people.”
Another issue they’ve been dealing with has been unsightly properties. “We’ve been working
with the planning department on several different properties in the area. In Blue Ridge, we’ve
cleaned up one property there, and it has now sold. We have another property in Blue Ridge
that gets unsightly, then gets cleaned, and then gets unsightly and then again cleaned.” Stg
Choma said they are working to fix the situation once and for all.

Councillor Alan Deane asked if peace officers had jurisdiction to attend to calls on Highway 43,
as the map in the package showed dots along the highway corridor. “We have the authority from
the province now to do single- and double-digit highways. Our focus for our team is not to focus
on Highway 43, but a lot of times people will blow a stop sign coming off the side road and the
stop is initiated at that point because the offence did happen in Woodlands County,” responded
Sgt Choma.
Although officers remain busy throughout the work week, the busiest hours are between 12 pm
and 6 pm, with the busiest time being in the middle, at 3 pm. The busiest day of the week for
peace officers in Woodlands County is Tuesday. Sgt Choma said it was interesting how each
place is different, as Lac Ste. Anne’s busiest day is Monday.
Another issue is off-highway vehicles. Sgt Choma explained that proactive approaches are
helping to remove potential dangers to the public. “Officer Jendrick observed an off-highway
vehicle travelling at an excessive rate of speed. After they failed to produce appropriate
documentation and after observing an open alcohol container and an attempt to leave, Sgt
Jendrick dispatched our radio and had the RCMP attend. It led to the off-highway vehicle being
seized as well as charges for the occupants of the vehicle,” detailed Stg Choma.
“(The RCMP) do take us seriously out there and they are our backup,” he said, speaking to the
positive working relationship between the two departments. “We are out there making stops,
and we are trying to make our community a better place to live and travel,” added Sgt Choma.
Reeve Kusch asked if they felt Woodlands County was getting enough coverage. “Is it working

more or should we be looking at possible changes?” Sgt Choma responded that yes, they could
possibly use more hours. “You guys are limited to the amount of time (we are) in the County
itself for speed enforcement and passing school buses and so forth. It just provides more
presence throughout the county. It’s a large county. Going from Fort Assiniboine to the Klondike
Ferry to the other end of Whitecourt is quite the distance. So, a lot of time is commuting, but we
are making a presence.”
The last two things Sgt Choma touched on were the complaint line, emphasizing that residents
needed to use it more, and the issue with residents wanting feedback. “A lot of our
complainants, especially with that app that you guys have, want some feedback on what has
taken place or what has happened throughout (the) investigation. It’s difficult because a lot of
the time we can’t give you guys updates,” said Sgt Choma.
He said they can provide updates to the administration but not the general public. “There could
be charges involved. It could be something that is going on tomorrow, a 72-hour notice issued to
enter the property, and we can’t share that information.” He then asked if there was anything
Woodlands County Council wanted to see done better. Reeve Kusch said he hadn’t heard much
over the last year. He then thanked both Sgt Choma and Sgt Jendrick for their service.