Police to clamp down on driving while prohibited
A local man made the wrong choice when he decided to drive to the courthouse last week.
He did so to pick up documents related to two charges of driving while prohibited under the Motor Vehicle Act from alleged incidents in February. It was a risk he would regret taking.
He was well enough known that shortly after leaving the courthouse, a member of the Prince George RCMP’s municipal traffic services section spotted his vehicle at Third and George and pulled him over.
The next day, he was sentenced to 14 days in jail, to be served in an intermittent basis, for driving while disqualified under the Criminal Code.
He was also fined $500 for driving while prohibited or licence suspended under the Motor Vehicle Act from one of the February charges. And he was prohibited from driving for one year on both counts.
As for the remaining charge from February, also under the Motor Vehicle Act, that matter is set for trial in November.
RCMP did not provide the man’s name in a press release issued Tuesday but according to court records, he is Jason Troy Getty.
Although one of the more egregious cases, Getty’s actions are all too common. In each of the last three years, the Prince George RCMP said they have charged and sent to court about 100 people on similar counts.
And there will be more to come. Beginning this month, the detachment will be targeting people committing the offence through a combination of “covert” and “overt” efforts, said Sgt. Matt LaBelle.
He said many simply “fall into our lap” because they’re poor drivers to begin with and get pulled over when they’re seen committing an infraction. From there, it’s just a matter of running their names through the system to determine whether they’ve been prohibited from driving due to a previous offence.
But he said the detachment’s municipal traffic services division will take enforcement to a higher level by keeping a closer eye on those who’ve been banned from driving.
“We issue suspensions on behalf of ICBC, we issue suspensions through the IPR-impaired program or people that we know are criminally prohibited because of a previous criminal conviction, so we’re going to be targeting those people specifically,” LaBelle said.
The public is also encouraged to help out. Prince George RCMP are also asking those who know someone who continues to drive despite being prohibited to call the detachment at 250-561-3300 or anonymously contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at