RCMP issues 2,000 sets of hard body armour after Mayerthorpe Mountie killings

EDMONTON – The RCMP is ramping up distribution of better bulletproof vests to front-line officers – six years after four Mounties were gunned down near Mayerthorpe, Alta.

Some 2,000 sets of hard body armour are to be delivered to RCMP detachments across Canada this fall. The vests are designed and built to withstand being hit by armour-piercing rifle bullets.

“The new hard body armour meets the protection requirements for general duty members, as well as the officer safety recommendations from the Mayerthorpe incident,” reads an internal RCMP memo.

The RCMP says it hopes to issue more than 6,800 of the new vests before April 1, 2013. The first batch was distributed earlier this year, including to the Mayerthorpe detachment.

The protection is to be worn by officers who are exposed or expect to be exposed to firearms that can penetrate soft body armour.

Constables Anthony Gordon, Leo Johnston, Brock Myrol and Peter Schiemann died on March 3, 2005, after being shot with high-powered bullets from a semi-automatic military assault rifle.

Gunman James Roszko later shot himself after being wounded by another Mountie.

RCMP say the new body armour meets the leading industry standard for North American military and law enforcement personnel and was chosen based on feedback from officers who tested it in the field.

Insp. Jeff Hunter says the new vests include specially designed bulletproof ceramic composite plates. The heavy and cumbersome vests are to be carried in each RCMP patrol car and worn by Mounties as needed.

Hunter says officers on the street are eager to have the new equipment.

“The comments that I have heard are that the members are enthusiastic about the fact that they are receiving the hard body armour,” Hunter said Friday from RCMP national headquarters in Ottawa.

“It provides that extra level of protection that they have been seeking.”

The cost of the 6,800 vests was not immediately available, but the total is expected to run into the millions of dollars. Similar hard body armour can run between $600 and $3,000 a set.

Hunter says the vests are being supplied under contracts that will allow the RCMP to make design changes based on feedback from officers or if the weapons threat to police changes.

Last March, a fatality inquiry before Alberta provincial court Judge Daniel Pahl into the Mayerthorpe killings strongly endorsed development of better body armour. But Pahl did not make it a formal recommendation in his final report.

During the inquiry, Johnston’s mother, Grace Johnston, testified that she believed officers need better body armour.

But Rod Knecht, who was the RCMP’s senior deputy commissioner, told the inquiry that no single measure can protect Mounties from harm.

Knecht, who is now chief of the Edmonton Police Service, testified that hard body armour is not operationally practical. He said it would be difficult for Mounties to wear during routine patrols because it is extremely uncomfortable and what officers gain in protection, they lose in flexibility and agility.

The RCMP memo suggests it will be up to individual Mounties to decide whether to wear the new vests. Officers are being told they must weigh the risks of a situation and decide for themselves.

Hunter says the RCMP wants to provide the best equipment it can to officers, but no piece of gear can protect anyone all of the time.

“It is not an absolute assurance of protection, but it certainly increases the level of protection available to members remarkably.”