(l to r) MADD Prince Albert's Darren Deck, Cst. Harlovepreet Gahrha, Cst. Rob Lindsay, and Prince Albert Police Chief Patrick Nogier pose for a photo following the presentation of the MADD Canada Van de Vorst Family Award. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

By Logan Lehmann

Community safety

MADD Canada recognizes two P.A. officers with Van de Vorst Family Award

Jan 22, 2025 | 5:18 PM

Two Prince Albert Police officers were honoured on Wednesday for their efforts in combating impaired driving in our city.

Const. Rob Lindsay and Const. Harlovepreet Gahrha were recognized with MADD Canada’s Van de Vorst Family Award for their dedication to keeping P.A. safe from impaired drivers.

This year marks the sixth anniversary of the MADD Canada Van de Vorst Family Award, which is named in memory of Jordan and Chanda Van de Vorst and their children, Kamryn and Miguire, who were tragically killed by an impaired driver in 2016 just north of Saskatoon.

Lindsay, a 16-year veteran with Prince Albert Police Service, has received the honour every year since its inauguration and said he takes the award very seriously.

“I met the [Van de Vorst family] last year and to see the look in their eyes and just to feel the pain that they have gone through, I put that in my forefront to go out there and get impaired drivers off the streets,” he said, noting he’s been a part of over 350 impaired driving investigations.

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The Award comes with a certificate, a letter of thanks from the Van de Vorst family, and a Challenge Coin that signifies how many impaired drivers that officer removed from the roads in the last calendar year. The Silver Coin is awarded to those who charged between eight and 16 impaired drivers, the Gold Coin to those with 17 or more charges, and the Platinum Award to officers who charged 40 or more.

A photo of the Van de Vorst Family Award certificate. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

Insp. Craig Mushka is in charge of the Support Services division that oversees Combined Traffic Services and praised the officers’ work in their commitment to keeping Prince Albert impaired driver free. He also said they have no plans in slowing down their efforts in making streets safer.

“In acknowledging the Members efforts here today, I really look forward to the new year resulting from the hard work of each member assigned to the unit and their commitment and dedication to impaired driving. You’re going to see an increase in our enforcement efforts, specifically when it comes to impaired driving, and we look forward to continuing that enforcement going into 2025.”

Police Chief Patrick Nogier piggybacked off Mushka, adding that Prince Albert officers laid 67 impaired driving charges last year.

“That number in itself is a bit alarming in that the community is really not picking up messaging with respect to how dangerous this activity is,” he explained. “You combine that with the fact that we had 20 administrative suspensions for impaired driving and an additional 40 for drug impaired driving. When you start tallying up those numbers, you’re in excess of 120 different types of occurrences.”

“Even though we’re recognizing the exceptional work by two officers here today, part of what we do is making sure that the community understands that we are a police service with dedicated resources and professionals that will hold people accountable if they choose to make bad decisions about operating their vehicle while impaired, but more importantly, do what’s right for the community. Making sure that you’re making those arrangements for a safe ride home, utilizing friends and or family to ensure that the end of the day number one, you’re not looking at a criminal conviction, and number two, you’re keeping Prince Albert safe for everyone.”

According to MADD Canada, on average, nine federal criminal charges and provincial short-term license suspensions are laid for impaired driving every single hour, 206 impaired driving charges and short-term suspensions are laid daily, and 78,480 impaired driving charges and short-term suspensions are laid annually.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com