How police balance enforcement with road safety in cold and snowy weather

How does the extreme cold weather we’ve been experiencing affect police officers? CTV Windsor’s Sanjay Maru finds out.

When temperatures plunge, many people can avoid the cold by working from home or staying inside a warm office — but those options are not available to first responders, including police officers.

In the past two weeks, Windsor-Essex has dealt with heavy snowfall at times, daytime highs dipping into the -10 C range, and overnight lows pushing much colder, approaching -20 C or lower once wind chill is factored in.

“I’ve been with the LaSalle Police Service for 15 years, and this is top three cold years I can remember,” said Const. Chris Williams during a ride-along with CTV News.

Williams said the sustained cold has made day-to-day policing more demanding — especially when visibility drops suddenly.

He described driving through Monday’s snow squall where conditions deteriorated within minutes.

“There was a truck about 100 metres in front of me, and I couldn’t see it, even with its lights on,” he said.

“You just drive slow, and you have to navigate the parked cars and still find stop signs.”

Traffic enforcement, he added, still applies in winter — but officers also have to consider how icy roads affect drivers’ ability to stop safely.

“People will roll through stop signs, and with the yellow light, people may not slow down like they’re supposed to,” Williams said.

“But if they were to slam on their brakes, they would just slide into the middle of the intersection as well.”

That’s why, he said, officers try to assess the full situation before taking action.

“We try to look at the big picture of things,” he said.

“But if it’s blatant that they had no intent of even trying to stop, we still have the job to do at the end of the day.”

Not every call during extreme cold involves enforcement.

Williams recalled stopping to help a driver whose car became stuck after snowplows passed through the area.

“He got it half out, but I helped him get it the rest of the way out,” said Williams.

“I’m sure every officer here would have tried to help him out the same way.”

Much of the challenge, he said, comes from the amount of time officers spend outside — often in short bursts, but repeatedly throughout a shift.

“We work 12-hour shifts, both days and nights,” Williams said.

“There’s no rhyme or reason for how long you can stay outside. You just have to be prepared to spend some time outside.”

Williams said experience driving in winter conditions helps, but caution is always top of mind — particularly because officers still need to reach people who are calling for help.

“If you end up hurt, that’s going to divert other services to you instead of the people that might have called you in the first place,” he said.

As winter conditions continue, police are reminding drivers to slow down, give themselves extra time, and avoid unnecessary trips when roads are slick.

“When the weather gets really bad, if it’s not an emergency, just stay home and wait until the salt trucks can get out and plow the roads a little bit,” said Williams.

“Very few people in the ditch have ever said, ‘I was taking my time and driving slow, and I ended up here.’”