The Moose Jaw Police Service has worked to modernize its organization during the past three years, with one step focusing on using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to support investigations.
Several members have been trained to fly these UAVs, or drones, explained Deputy Chief Rick Johns. While the force has purchased a training drone, it is in the process of acquiring an operational drone. This machine would help find missing persons, support tactical situations, conduct searches and investigate traffic collisions.
Johns and other senior police officers with the force were at the Moose Jaw Public Library on May 7, as part of an open house hosted by the Moose Jaw Police Service (MJPS) and Board of Police Commissioners. About 40 residents heard about the force’s priorities and initiatives, along with crime statistics and data.
K-9 Unit expansion
The police service’s K-9 Unit has been operational for the past 10 years and is developing new ways to train its animals. The unit is also expanding to four police dogs from two. This will ensure the unit can provide continuous coverage for the police service every day.
The names of the new one-year-old dogs are True and Merc; the former is a Belgian Malinois and the latter is a German shepherd. Both animals are expected to be ready for work by mid-July.
The value of having a K-9 unit on-call 24 hours a day is a team can be called in quickly to help with a missing persons case or a building search, said Police Chief Rick Bourassa. This ensures a trail does not grow cold.
“It’s a way for us to be better,” he said, adding there are few costs, since the animals live with their handlers. “We increase our effectiveness this way.”
Internet Child Exploitation
The MJPS is beginning to explore a partnership with the province’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit. The service would investigate people who use the internet to exploit children, lure them, or are involved in child pornography.
This has been done mainly at the provincial level, but Moose Jaw is looking to supplement those investigations here, Johns said. This will add value to the municipality.
Cannabis
Marijuana was legalized last October and many people have wondered how it has affected the community, said Johns. The police service has found there has not been much of a change or effect.
“Our priority concern remains to be safety and the concern around impaired driving by drug,” he added. “So our police service has taken steps to train members to make sure they have the tools to investigate properly and enforce drinking and driving (laws).”
Police and Crisis Team
The Police and Crisis Team (PACT) has been operational in Moose Jaw since last October. This unit attends to a scene if someone is suffering from a mental health crisis, such as depression, is suicidal, a panic attack, anxiety, drug-induced psychosis, or addictions.
PACT then connects such people with mental health services, such as social services, methadone programs, Alcoholics Anonymous, shelter, or even transportation to the hospital. However, it attempts to divert people away from the hospital and to the proper support services.
The team responded to 162 calls for service from March to April of this year. It diverted 73 people away from the ER; diverted eight people from being arrested; and supported the RCMP on five occasions.
Child abuse investigation team
The South Central Child Abuse Investigation Team was established last October and has handled 37 cases. It is mandated to look into all allegations of physical and sexual abuse in children within the area of the Moose Jaw Central Services office.
A social worker has been seconded to this team and is working at the police station. That employee works within Moose Jaw, while he also works with nine area RCMP detachments.
