Reservist Police Officer

Maj Brendon Leblanc, reservist and Victoria Police Officer

If there’s anything Maj Brendon Leblanc loves, it’s serving his community.

The reserve solider with 5th Field B.C. Regiment, is also a Victoria police officer.

He had his civilian work acknowledged in a Nov. 19 ceremony when he was named 2013 Traffic Law Enforcement Officer of the Year in B.C.

“That was pretty awesome; I don’t know how else to describe it,” says Maj Leblanc. “It was nice to be recognized for my efforts, by both the B.C. Association of the Chiefs of Police, and by my peers.”

Seconded to the RCMP-lead Integrated Road Safety Unit, Maj Leblanc headed up Operation Praesidium, a project aimed at the apprehension of “prolific drivers”, a category that comprises prohibited drivers, suspended drivers, and drivers that drive without a license, presenting a danger to road safety.

“There are people who continually drive without a license or on suspension,” he says. “When they drive they’re endangering the community, and breaking the laws, so we figured out a way to use the resources at our disposal to apprehend them.”

Maj Leblanc and his team generated an internal database of prolific drivers known to police, and people on prohibitions for alcohol, speeding, licensing related offences.

Utilizing community knowledge and information, they worked to apprehend these people while they were driving under their prohibitions. Since the integration of Operation Praesidium, approximately 50 prolific offenders were taken into custody, a fact of which Maj Leblanc is very proud.

“It was the opportunity of a lifetime from a police perspective, to see a project go from an idea to the operations plan, to supervising resources at a roadside level, to seeing some convictions happen,” he says. “It was fantastic.”

Along with the success of Operation Praesidium, Maj Leblanc has been responsible for the arrest of 257 impaired drivers. Though an impressive number, Maj Leblanc is humble, reminding people that he didn’t work alone.

“There are many people at work on Operation Praesidium,” he says. “The award I received, I share with them. It was very much a team effort.”

Shawn O’Hara
Staff Writer