The Regina Police Service (RPS) have the option of calling on the RCMP’s tactical armoured vehicle (TAV) in the event of a high-risk call, like an armed stand-off. Based on preliminary city budget documents it appears the RPS would like their own TAV.
The December 5 finance committee report outlines planned capital projects for 2018. Among the line items is a $750,000 expenditure to upgrade aging police equipment, plus the purchase of “a tactical rescue vehicle and enhanced body armour.”
Chief Evan Bray said he can’t talk too much about future expenditures because the proposed police budget isn’t public yet, despite the item being in a city committee report.
He did say TAV could be a useful measure to increase police and public safety as firearms become more common in Regina.
“There’s probably not a night in the city where we don’t have some sort of serious weapons call. That happens all too frequently right now. Firearms are a big part of what we do,” he said.
RPS have deployed the SWAT team 35 times this year, often flanked by the RCMP TAV. Borrowing the TAV from the RCMP does cost city police, as they pay for gas and associated maintenance.
Bray said that vehicle can be too big for residential roads and is not always available.
“There are options out there that are more, I would call urban friendly. They’re not the tank that the TAV is. They’re more just a big truck that provides protection for our officers,” Bray said.
Critics who presented at Wednesday’s Board of Police Commissioners meeting, like Florence Stratton, question why police are tight-lipped on the potential purchase being discussed in the still private budget deliberations.
“Why shouldn’t the public know about it? I find that really, really problematic,” Stratton said.
She also fears this is part of a trend toward police militarization.
“Well a couple of years ago City Council rubber-stamped the purchase of assault rifles. Now we’re going onto a tank. I don’t want to live in a city where the police are so militarized,” she said.
Bray said that militarization is not the direction of the RPS, and their primary focus is to build relationships with community groups to show police are trustworthy.
The police budget will be made publically available once the city enters its municipal budget deliberations. City council is expected to hold its annual budget meeting in February.