It’s a strange sight to see your friendly neighbourhood RCMP officer armed with an assault rifle charging down the halls of a school.
Last month, anyone driving by St. Timothy School might have caught a glimpse of dozens of officers storming the empty school while students were enjoying their March break.
Like a scene out of SWAT, the officers were participating in tactical training that not only familiarized them with the use of the high-powered firearms but how to respond to emergency response scenarios – such as an active shooter at the school.
While a crazed gunman threatening a school or a neighbourhood is something people do not regularly think about, the reality is such incidents have become more common. It is a problem that is most attributed to the United States but Canada has not been immune.
Before the 1967 Shell Lake murders – when a random gunman killed nine people – the last recorded massacre in Canada was the 1885 Frog Lake Massacre.
That 82-year-old gap between incidents has transformed into 17 massacres over the past 49 years, with an average frequency of one ever four years.
Etched in our collective memories are the slaying of four RCMP officers in Mayerthorpe; the attack on Parliament Hill; the murder of three RCMP officers in Moncton; and dating back even earlier to the 1989 attack on Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique – our nation’s most notable and deadliest mass murder when 14 women were gunned down.
The 1999 school shooting Taber, where one student was killed and widely believed to be a copycat of the deadlier Columbine School murders a week earlier, is another event. It, however, is not included in the massacre list because only one person was killed.
These situations are not typical when compared to an RCMP officer’s day-to-day duties, but the threat of them happening is very real and that is why RCMP officers across the country are undergoing the training.
Sgt. Jeff Campbell illustrated why the training is so important explaining that most active threat situations, especially ones that target police as was seen in Moncton, last mere minutes. In those cases, the response has to be instantaneous, calling for back up is not an option; the longer the wait time the higher the body count.
“It’s not a matter of if this is going to happen in our area, it is a matter of when,” said Campbell.
We hope that is not the case but failing to prepare in case his words prove prophetic would be a dangerous and potentially deadly failure.
Many have expressed concerns over what is viewed as the militarization of police departments, especially south of the border where more officers are sporting higher-powered weapons and tactical military hardware.
Unfortunately such gear has become more necessary as police face threats wielding increasingly deadly weapons. Handguns and shotguns are no match for the range and firepower of assault rifles or some high-power long guns – similar to the ones used in Mayerthorpe.
While some might question the need for officers to carry assault rifles – and we would not want to see them carrying them openly every day – it is essential that police have the tools to do their jobs. Not only does that help them protect themselves, but us as well.
