Mike on Crime

By ROB DRINKWATER

EDMONTON (CP) – A federal report into the slaying of four Alberta RCMP officers is recommending that beefier body armour be issued to members across the province.

The report from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada also recommends officers working at night be issued night-vision goggles and have better radio communications, the RCMP said Monday.

Supt. Rick Hanson said body armour has already been handed out in Mayerthorpe, Alta. – the detachment where the four slain officers were based – but further study is needed before the program is expanded.

“There is a weight factor . . . it’s very cumbersome, it’s very hot, and it’s very difficult to manoeuvre,” Hanson said at a news conference.

“There’s all those issues that are adding to the need to properly research it before a more comprehensive model is developed for equipping the members.”

Hanson said the heavier armour is ceramic and weighs about 18 pounds, which he said is considerably heavier than the lighter armoured vests that officers currently have.

He said the heavier armour, which would protect officers from long gun fire, costs between $400 and $600.

The report had only made the issuing of the armour mandatory in Mayerthorpe. Hanson couldn’t provide a timeline for expanding the armour to the rest of the province.

“Mayerthorpe’s use of it will be taken into consideration as part of the evaluation process,” Hanson said.

Hanson said it is difficult to say whether heavier armour would have helped the officers who were killed in Mayerthorpe, but he said officers are seeing more rifles and long guns in the field.

The RCMP also said night-vision goggles are already in use in some detachments.

The force said that while radio communication problems were not an issue during the Mayerthorpe tragedy, officers noticed problems afterward when they were investigating the shootings.

“Within the province, radio coverage is a problem, just like cellphone coverage,” Hanson explained.

“There are places in the province where radio systems don’t work optimally.”

Known police-hater James Roszko ambushed Constables Peter Schiemann, Brock Myrol, Leo Johnston and Anthony Gordon while they were guarding evidence on his farm. He then killed himself.