The Moose Jaw Police Service has quietly discussed creating a SWAT-like tactical unit since at least 2019, but after securing provincial funding recently, it has revealed more information about the unit’s existence.
Through the Criminal Property Forfeiture Fund, the provincial government provided more than $1.27 million to police agencies, Victims’ Funds, and community programs in late March. The funding assists police forces in purchasing new resources, supporting victims and aiding the delivery of community programming.
The Moose Jaw Police Service (MJPS) was one of five agencies to receive funding through the fund. This money — the government did not announce the amount in its news release — is to provide tactical equipment for officers responding to high-risk situations.
The agency informed Moose Jaw’s Board of Police Commissioners during their April 19 meeting that the police service received $70,000 to purchase the necessary gear to equip members of the tactical unit.
“As the board knows, for a couple years now, we’ve been working on increasing our ability to reduce risk in high-risk situations,” said Police Chief Rick Bourassa. “And, moving forward with some advanced training and some safety equipment for our members has been one of the key parts of that.”
The police service has been improving its responses to serious incidents by enhancing its capabilities over the years, said Deputy Chief Rick Johns. This includes expanding its K-9 teams, training crisis negotiators and incident commanders, and educating front-line officers on containment techniques to manage situations.
With more incidents involving violence, firearms and weapons, the agency identified the need for an increased tactical capability to enhance the protection of police and the community, he continued. Since this increase in tactical readiness means members need better gear — especially for winter while attending to situations for hours — the police service has created a plan to purchase these items.
The MJPS began more in-depth planning for a tactical support unit last year, Johns said. This included identifying and hiring two officers with extensive experience as team leaders, who then trained with the Regina Police Service’s (RPS) SWAT team to gain more knowledge.
The organization also began building the administrative side of the unit, while it eventually offered positions on the unit to several officers who completed a qualification process.
Full training is expected to commence this spring.
Johns added that the $70,000 from the provincial government — along with the existing police budget and deployment and re-deployment of existing equipment — should help the tactical unit become operational “with little to no cost” to the police board.
The incidents to which the unit’s members will respond will be limited at first because of their training, but the long-term goal is to turn this group into a full-on squad that can make high-risk entries or respond to situations that require negotiations, Johns said in response to a question from Commissioner Mayor Clive Tolley.
“We will still also be continuing to work in close partnership with our Regina SWAT team, as well as the RCMP ERT (Emergency Response Team) … that have some additional capabilities that we haven’t gotten yet,” he added.
If a SWAT team from the RPS or RCMP is needed for a serious situation in Moose Jaw, their response times will be based on where they are in the province, Johns said in response to a question from Commissioner Doug Blanc. Since there could be a delay of hours, the MJPS’s tactical unit would be used to contain the situation until either unit arrives.
The next Board of Police Commissioners meeting is Thursday, May 19.
