By CHIEF ROBERT A. DUTTCHEN, Corman Park Police Service
The week opened on the morning of May 25 when CPPS responded to a report of a suspicious person near Range Road 3085 and Township Road 390. Officers located a male known to police — a man legally bound by an undertaking that prohibited him from operating a vehicle. He had, nonetheless, driven to the location in a vehicle belonging to another person. The breach was clear, and he was arrested without incident. He was conveyed to the RCMP detachment, processed, and later released on a new release order before being transported home.
At approximately 6:00 p.m. on May 26, CPPS and RCMP were jointly dispatched to a report of a possible aircraft crash near Lutheran Road and Range Road 3072. The call originated from NAV CANADA’s Saskatoon Control Tower — not the sort of routine traffic complaint that defines most shifts.
Arriving officers found not a crash scene, but something almost more remarkable: a light aircraft that had experienced complete fuel exhaustion, lost engine power, and executed an emergency forced landing on the roadway — entirely intact. No injuries. No damage to the aircraft, the road, or surrounding infrastructure. A skilled piece of airmanship under pressure.
The aircraft’s owner arrived at the scene with fuel. Once refuelled, the pilot resumed flight and returned safely to the departure airport. CPPS notified the Transportation Safety Board and Transport Canada of the incident in accordance with required protocols.
The evening of May 27 produced a layered enforcement file. A CPPS member stopped a vehicle operating without headlights and displaying a cracked windshield. The driver provided a false name to the officer — an attempt that was quickly and quietly undone, as the individual was already known to police. He was arrested for personation.
That was only the beginning. Officers observed unstamped tobacco in plain view within the vehicle. A subsequent search uncovered 191 unstamped cigarettes, a marijuana pipe, and a small quantity of methamphetamine. When an oral fluid demand was made, the driver refused to provide a sample — adding a further charge of refusing to provide a sample to a police officer. He was conveyed to the Saskatoon RCMP detachment and held until he was sober enough to be released.
Shortly after 4:00 p.m. on May 28, RCMP broadcast information on three vehicles travelling south from the Prince Albert area. Intelligence suggested the occupants may be connected to a shooting and could be in possession of firearms. RCMP located one of the vehicles north of Saskatoon on Highway 12 and attempted a traffic stop. The vehicle fled.
CPPS members moved quickly to position themselves to deploy a spike belt, but the vehicle took evasive action by travelling southbound in the northbound lanes of Highway 12. A second CPPS unit, further down the highway, was getting into position with a second spike belt when the vehicle abruptly turned onto a dead-end service road. It followed that road onto an adjacent speedway and lost control while attempting to exit the property. RCMP and CPPS took the occupants into custody. A thorough search of the vehicle did not yield a firearm.
On the afternoon of May 29, CPPS attended a multi-vehicle collision on Highway 16 near Township Road 384. At the request of the lead investigator, a CPPS officer administered an oral fluid screening test on one of the drivers. The sample returned a positive result. The driver was conveyed to the RCMP detachment where the same CPPS officer — a certified Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) — conducted a Drug Influence Evaluation that confirmed impairment by drugs.
All CPPS patrol vehicles are equipped with oral fluid screening devices, and the service has two qualified DREs on staff. These capabilities significantly enhance CPPS’s ability to contribute to our RCMP partners and reflect our commitment to working together by contributing our tools and team members to obtain a good investigative outcomes.
Policing is not only about enforcement — it is about connection. That truth was on full display on the afternoon of May 29, when four CPPS members and a colleague from the Vanscoy Police Service joined staff and approximately 40 students from South Corman Park School for a bike trip through the trails of Saskatoon.
Conditions were, to put it generously, warm. The heat was formidable, and lesser spirits might have wilted. The students were not lesser spirits. They were extraordinary — brimming with energy, enthusiasm, and resilience throughout the entire ride. It was a privilege for our members to spend time with such an impressive group of young people, and a proud reminder of why community policing sits at the heart of what we do.
My sincere thanks to the staff of South Corman Park School for organizing such a meaningful event, and to the members of the Vanscoy Police Service for their partnership on the day.
On the evening of May 30, at approximately 6:30 p.m., a vehicle was observed on Valley Road travelling 51 km/h over the posted speed limit. A traffic stop was conducted. The driver was found to have a blood alcohol concentration of 31 mg%, and open and unopened containers of alcohol were located in the vehicle. He was issued an $809 speeding ticket. The alcohol was seized and destroyed, the vehicle was impounded for 30 days, and the driver’s licence was suspended for seven days.
The final hours of May delivered two stark reminders of what excessive speed looks like — and the consequences that follow.
Shortly after midnight on May 31st, CPPS members observed a vehicle on Highway 16 near Boychuk Drive travelling at a recorded 204 km/h in a posted 90 km/h zone. After a 7 km pursuit to close the distance, a traffic stop was conducted. The driver — a novice licence holder — was issued a $1,515 speeding ticket for exceeding the speed limit by at least double. The vehicle was impounded for 30 days and the licence suspended for seven days. All occupants received education on the very real consequences of high-speed collisions.
Later that same evening, a second vehicle was observed on Highway 16 near Zimmerman Road travelling at 166 km/h — one of only three vehicles on the roadway at the time. The driver was stopped and disputed the recorded speed, asserting the vehicle was travelling approximately 40 km/h slower than what was captured by the officer’s LiDAR unit. The data told a different story. The driver was issued a $1,089 speeding ticket. The vehicle was impounded for 30 days and the driver’s licence suspended for seven days.