A spokesman for the Mounted Police Professional Association says it’s unfortunate that it took the deaths of a number of RCMP officers to prompt the force to start providing necessary equipment.
Rob Creasser says the improvements announced Tuesday in Moncton show the force is moving in the right direction, but it shouldn’t require incidents like the murders of three officers in Moncton in June 2014.
The force announced yesterday that 33-hundred officers across Canada have been trained in the use of patrol carbine firearms and that number is expected to double over the next year.
That came after a review of the Moncton shootings, after Alphonse MacNeil determined that officers needed more access to carbines and practice in using them.
READ MORE: All RCMP cadets now receiving carbine and active shooter training
RCMP Chief Superintendent Eric Stubbs says officers will also be provided with adequate ammunition for training each year.
The force says it expects to have 50 per cent of officers trained on the carbines by April 2017.
A revised course is being offered across the country and to cadets as they graduate.
MacNeil’s report released about a year ago also called for standard equipment for emergency response teams and improvements in radio communication.
A five-month 16×9 investigation, Under Fire, raised questions about officer training and equipment prior to the shooting. Click on the links below for related coverage.
- Under Fire: Search for answers
- Under Fire: The carbine
- Training for a shooting
- RCMP sends out defensive internal memo hours before explosive 16×9 investigation
- What’s happened in the year since the Moncton shooting