Sergeant Hughes is a 34 year police veteran who began his police career with the Metropolitan Toronto Police Service in 1971 and joined the Lindsay Police Service on March 22, 1987.

Sergeant Hughes was designated as a Qualified Breathalyzer Technician in 1979 at the Center of Forensic Sciences in Toronto, and since that time this officer has performed an incredible 1651 breath tests.

Impaired driving is Canada's number one criminal cause of death and injury. This senseless act takes the lives of 1,100 Canadians every year (three lives every day). Canadian police agencies charged 70, 587 persons with an impaired driving offence in 1999. Impaired driving is a proliferating problem that requires action.

In 1977, the Etobicoke Police Service (a suburb of Toronto), devised a anti-drinking and driving campaign called "Reduce Impaired Driving in Etobicoke" (R.I.D.E). The RIDE campaign involved high profile public service announcements advising the community that the police would be actively patrolling and enforcing impaired driving offences during the holiday season. The RIDE campaign also involved establishing high profile police checkpoints at strategic locations to check all passing motorists for signs of intoxication.

The Ontario government grew fond of Etobicoke's RIDE program, and by 1983, had implemented RIDE as a province-wide campaign that runs all year long. The meaning of RIDE changed from "Reduce Impaired Driving in Etobicoke" to "Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere". Each year, the Ontario government provides $1.2 million dollars to Ontario police agencies to enhance their enforcement capability against impaired driving.

Sergeant Hughes has successfully completed annual yearly re-qualification exams including being trained as an Intoxilyzer operator, and remains one of the Province's longest serving active breathalyzer technicians.

Sergeant Hughes recognizes the devastation that people who are driving while under the influence of alcohol and or drugs can cause in society. He maintains a valuable knowledge base of current case law decisions affecting the prosecution of impaired driving cases and is recognized and utilized by his peers as an authority in this area of policing.

In addition to his technicians' duties Sgt Hughes has been responsible for the arrest of hundreds of impaired drivers during his career and consistently has one of the highest impaired driving arrest rates within the police service. Sergeant Hughes approaches his duties with passion and enthusiasm and can be described as a true professional working above and beyond what is expected.