Cops back off pubs

Business has been painfully slow at Creekside Pub in Kelowna in recent months.

Richard Stotz, owner of Creekside Pub, says the RCMP have been stalking his pub and scaring away customers.

Stotz says RCMP would often have an unmarked vehicle in his parking lot and two marked cruisers parked on the street nearby.

He says virtually everyone who left the pub was pulled over and many people were given breathalyzer tests.

He says that was killing his business.

There have been similar complaints from other Kelowna pubs, especially since the province introduced tough new anti-drinking and driving laws late last year.

However, it appears local pubs owners and the RCMP have come to a compromise.

The RCMP recently agreed to stop parking their vehicles next to drinking establishments.

A number of pubs say business has slowly started to pick up since the new directive.

Police say that keeping a lower profile in the immediate vicinity of pubs and bars does not mean they are reducing their efforts to keep drunk drivers off the road.

They will continue to set up roadblocks close to pubs and pull over anyone who they suspect of driving while impaired.