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Manitoba RCMP to get drone with seized proceeds of crime

Property seized under Manitoba's Criminal Property Forfeiture Act is placed in a fund that makes grants to police and victim services agencies. The RCMP will buy a drone with funds distributed in 2014. Rudi Pawlychyn / Global News

WINNIPEG – The Manitoba criminal property forfeiture fund will be used to buy a drone for the RCMP, the province announced Friday.

The “unmanned aerial device” will be used for search-and-rescue missions, during traffic accidents and during critical incident investigations, the province said in a news release.

The drone is one of the items being purchased with the more than $200,000 the Mounties are getting from the provincial fund, which receives the proceeds of crimes seized under the province’s decade-old Criminal Property Forfeiture Act. The province plans to distribute $1.2 million in grants from the fund to police and victim services agencies this summer.

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In addition to the drone, RCMP will get two automated licence plate readers, surveillance equipment and a tactical unit equipment trailer. They’ll also use the money to fund programs in Stonewall and Selkirk that target at-youth risk and their families.

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Other funds being distributed include:

  • $150,000 for the Manitoba Justice Victim Services branch;
  • $70,000 for the Office of the Fire Commissioner for a portable X-ray system for use at fire investigations; and
  • $30,000 for RCMP youth cadet programs in Nelson House, Norway House and Cross Lake.

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