Ninety-two Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley police officers were honoured at Southridge School last month for their efforts to get impaired drivers off the road.
The officers were named to Alexa’s Team in a morning ceremony organized by the BCAA Road Safety Foundation. To qualify, each had to recommend at least 10 impaired-driving charges to Crown counsel last year, as well as have issued 24-hour and administrative driving prohibitions. There are now 419 B.C. officers on Alexa’s Team.
Alexa’s Team was formed in memory of Alexa Middelaer, the four-year-old girl who died three years ago after she was struck by a car while feeding a horse at the side of a Ladner road. Alexa attended preschool in Crescent Beach. Her mom, Laurel Middelaer, is principal of Southridge Junior School. The driver of the car that hit Alexa, Carol Berner, was sentenced last year to 2½ years in prison and handed a five-year driving prohibition. She is appealing her conviction and sentence.