There was no escaped convict from the Prince Albert penitentiary in Humboldt. Nor was there a huge take-down of drug dealers.
No, the plethora of police officers in the city last week was due to a blitz on traffic offences in the city of Humboldt.
Officers from police services in Regina, Prince Albert, Saskatoon, Corman Park and Moose Jaw joined RCMP officers both local and from other parts of the province to conduct roadside checks at four locations in Humboldt June 24-25.
On the afternoon of June 24, the police officers caused quite a stir within Humboldt when they rolled into the community in police cars, vans and motorcycles, and speculation as to why they were here ran rampant.
Unaware of the speculation, the officers set up at four different locations around the city on both Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
One location under surveillance was the intersection of Hwys. 5 and 20; another was near the Humboldt Post Office, and a third was near the Humboldt Public School.
The officers are part of the Multi-Agency Seatbelt Team (MASTeam), which includes representatives of all enforcement agencies in the province with a common dedication to road safety in Saskatchewan.
And while the focus of the MASTeam's work is seat belt enforcement, if they noticed any other traffic violations along the way, they did not ignore them. Those who violated any other rules of the road were also pulled over and ticketed.
Some officers were set up as scouts, noting offences and alerting other officers, waiting down the street, of who had done what. Those officers then pulled the vehicles over into parking lots, where still other officers dealt with the offenders and issued tickets.
A total of 154 tickets were handed out in the two blitzes.
"Hosting MASTeam here in Humboldt has been very successful," noted Cpl. Greg Heuer, the coordinator of the Humboldt blitz. "The enforcement presence over the past couple of days demonstrates our commitment to saving lives and reducing injuries as we work towards accomplishing Road Safety Vision 2015 - to make Canada's roads the safest roads in the world."
The check-stops, it was added, are an example of the ongoing commitment SGI and provincial law enforcement agencies have to working together for safer roads in Saskatchewan.
