Building on existing capabilities and rising violent crime rates are two reasons why the Moose Jaw Police Service (MJPS) is establishing its own Tactical or Special Weapons and Training (SWAT) team.
The team, which will not be full-time unit, will be composed of MJPS members who will perform their main duties but will be called up when needed, Chief Rick Bourassa said.
“We had a crisis negotiating team for some time. We had a K-9 unit for some time. We have incorporated some technological advances to deal with some of these. The next step in that process is to enhance the training and capability of some of our members to be able to engage in a higher tactical level to reduce risk,” Bourassa said during a recent media scrum.
Bourassa said he could not state exactly when the decision was made to establish a tactical team, but creating one had “been on-going for a few years.”
Chief Bourassa said the need for the team has grown out of the increase in violence and the weaponry now showing up.
“What we have seen over time — and we talked about this — there has been an increase in violent activity, and you see some of that in our crime data just what I see is an increasing incivility,” he said.
“We have also seen an increase in weapons offences. And encountering weapons and encountering situations where it is difficult to be in compliance and we end up with high-risk situations.”
Crisis negotiations
The creation of a tactical unit is a natural extension of the crisis negotiating team, which has been in existence for years.
“And that sinks in with the crisis negotiating piece and sort of always seeking compliance and reducing risk. But at the same time to be able to contain a situation safely,” he said.
Asked if creating a Tactical or SWAT Team was not an admission that other efforts to keep the peace had failed, Bourassa said that was “an interesting perspective” but failed to answer the question directly.
“It is all about safety and the steps to keep people as safe as possible, but we have done the other pieces in terms of a policing crisis team,” he stated. “And for people who are maybe suffering distress in the community that we can have a response to reduce any sort of harm that person might pose to him or herself and others and to deal with the situations.
“We work very closely with Social Services on dealing with other situations, dealing with child protection and those sorts of pieces, and we have some very proactive responses in terms of that.”
Partnerships
Creating tactical team capabilities can save time, as other police partners such as the Regina Police Service or RCMP Tactical Team may not be readily available when needed, the chief said.
Before that, “… we were having to make those calls more and more frequently. And because of our weather conditions here sometimes and because of distance that can take some time for responses and our members are there already holding the scene and containing the scene,” Bourassa said.
“To increase the capability for us to respond if we have to in an immediate situation is really important to keep people safe.”
Citing operational secrecy, Bourassa would not release the number of officers being train for the team.
“But we will start with a group that is sufficient to carry out what needs to be carried out,” he noted.
Unit funding
The MJPS received $70,000 in March from the provincial Civil Forfeiture Fund — monies seized as they were proven to be proceeds of crimes — to pay for tactical equipment.
Deputy Chief Rick Johns said there would be further grant applications to purchase equipment to reduce costs.
“We need to be cognizant it involves time and a gradual process of securing funding and so forth. We are going to make those applications to sort of minimize the burden to our budget and go from there,” the deputy chief said.
According to Chief Bourassa, the actual budgetary costs will be minimal.
“It will be very little the original equipping is the big cost. We have most of that through the funding and we have budgeted a little bit more to cover off any other pieces. There will be replacements and changes in size over time and we will budget for those,” the chief said.
No new officers will be hired to man the unit, but rather, officers will be trained and then respond when the situation arises.
“We will be using existing resources (but) we will not be increasing or creating a new section. These officers will still have their primary duties. The training and any deployments, they will just come off of their primary duties and move into those roles,” he said.
“So there will be very, very little budget are impact. A little bit of overtime perhaps but no increase in resources. No increase in on-going expenses other than what we have to replace (in equipment) for our tactical unit.”
Situations arising
Asked how many situations arise, he said it is about two or three times a year, but so far, there has been one situation where a tactical team was needed.
“It is not frequent, it is not often, but often enough we think it is really important to have that capability here and ready to go as soon as possible,” Bourassa said. “We will still rely on some of our other policing partners for support in some of those situations.
“They are unpredictable. We don’t know where or when or what they are going to be, but it is important for community safety here we are able to safely contain and resolve situations.”
Concerns about costs
In previous councils’ tenures, concerns have been raised about the added costs — training, equipment and overtime — that specialized police units cost taxpayers. Critics also say the extra training and duties surrounding tactical units take away from actual policing.
Despite the training and new tactical gear, Chief Bourassa admitted that the MJPS may still have to use other police force resources in a tactical situation. Plus, there are areas such as explosives on which the MJPS will not be trained.
“For the most part, this team will have the same training and capabilities as the other agencies,” Chief Bourassa added.
