While working in Rossland, we often received calls to assist the Canadian and American border crossing at the Patterson crossing. The Canadian building was such that whenever I observed they were busy, I would decide not to visit but simply drive around the building and carry on while cars were lined up to be checked by Canadian customs. When it’s busy for the customs officers, their heads are down and they are working away. This particular day I simply did the turn and just drove past the building. About five miles down the road, I get a call of a border runner. Since I happen to be in the area, I simply set up stationary road check and wait for the suspect vehicle to come to me. My dispatcher advised that the car can only be described as blue and it happened in the last three minutes. I figure this is going to be an easy arrest — just wait for the first blue car that comes at me. I got out of my car to flag the approaching car down and waited for about six minutes, but no car. As I’m standing on the road, I look over at my blue police vehicle and judge the timing of the call to the timing that I drove past their office. I contacted my dispatcher and advised them that I have the blue car and will return the driver to the border. I go back to the border and through great deductive investigative skills I was able to conclude the blue streak they witnessed at the last second was in fact me. Case successfully closed.
