Patrick Book, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (CKOM News Talk Radio) – A 40 year-old RCMP member accused of driving with alcohol in his system appeared in court this morning.
RCMP say 12 year veteran Brent Jolson was not in uniform and was off-duty when he crashed a marked vehicle into a culvert near Lumsden in early May. The vehicle was wrecked and the Mounties say a “road-side screening device” told them Jolson has alcohol in his system. On that basis his license was suspended for 24 hours. He was also charged with breaching his probation, which stemmed from a previous conviction for assault. One of his conditions was to stay away from alcohol.
Jolson has been granted an adjournment for a month and a half while he looks for a lawyer.
Its far easier to chicken little the issues than research and provide reasoned responses to items which provoke some to emotional responses. Providing context is always helpful I find. An interesting statistic, if it was available would be the percentage of civilians picked up for impaired offenses as opposed to RCMP employees, on a national basis. I would presume the percentage in the officers would be far lower than the general public.
Seems to me that in the above example, the law is in fact being applied to the officer involved. Had it been covered up, not applied, or hidden, there would not even be an article would there?
They don’t think they are above the law and every rcmp officer i have ever met has been kind and helpful. I am tired of people playing the blame game and not trusting the rcmp for a couple officers making mistakes. Keep in mind how many of your friends drive after having one too many. The RCMP has 25000 employees of course one or two will make mistakes it is just publicized since people love blaming them. Perhaps you should talk to your MP’s about putting money into the rcmp so they can fix the problems with staffing, kit and structure.
Well it’s just one more example how the LAW does not apply to the RCMP because they consider themselves ABOVE THE LAW and those cruisers are really getting it these days…. and so are the tax payers footing the bill once again…. I think part of his punishment should be that he pays for the repair, don’t you?
RCMP officer charged with breaching alcohol ban appears in Regina court
Regina Leader-Post
June 8, 2008
An RCMP officer charged with again breaching a probation order prohibiting him from consuming alcohol made his first court appearance in Regina on Monday morning.
Const. Brent A. Jolson, 40, is not in custody. The matter was adjourned until July 20.
Jolson was involved in a single-vehicle collision in an RCMP cruiser near Lumsden on May 7. According to information previously released by the RCMP, the crash occurred on Highway 11, when a marked RCMP cruiser headed south entered the centre median and hit a culvert.
Jolson, the lone occupant of the car, was not on duty at the time of the collision. He suffered minor injuries.
A road-side screening device detected the presence of some alcohol in Jolson’s system, but not enough to warrant a breathalyser test. Jolson received a 24-hour licence suspension.
At the time of the crash, the 12-year veteran of the RCMP was on court-ordered probation for a previous assault conviction. One of the conditions of that probation order was abstaining from alcohol.