Mayerthorpe officers get high-powered rifle protection
RCMP in a northern Alberta town near the site of a 2005ambush that killed four Mounties have been issued bulletproof vests designed to protect them against high-powered rifles — one of the recommendations in a federal report obtained by CBC News last week.
RCMP Supt. Rick Hanson confirmed Monday thatthe force has acted on several of the recommendations made by the Human Resources Department, which lookedinto the shooting deaths of constables Anthony Gordon, Peter Schiemann, Brock Myrol and Leo Johnston near Mayerthorpe.
Hanson said the new vests for the Mayerthorpe RCMP would protect officers, but wouldn't eliminate tragedies like the one on March 3, 2005.James Roszko killed the officers as they staked out his farm near the hamlet of Rochfort Bridge during an investigation into stolen property and a small marijuana grow operation.
"I don't want anyone to walk away from here with the simplification that any of these recommendations, or all of them, are going to make policing safer for everyone all the time. It's not going to happen," Hanson said.
The RCMP will provide similar vests to all of its members across the country, but is researching what will be "most practical, most beneficial on a general deployment to all our members," Hanson said.
Hanson said the RCMP has also provided new night vision equipment to most detachments and will look at new radio equipment as well, following up on two more recommendations in the report.
Tragedy not preventable: reports
The reports obtained by CBC News last week— one by the federal Human Resources Department and the otherfrom the RCMP's hazardous occurrence investigation— both concluded there was no waythe RCMP could have anticipated the slayings.
Roszko, 46, who was heavily armed, was struck by a police bullet when he opened fire on RCMP officers, but police said he then turned his gun on himself.
He had a lengthy criminal record and his violent tendencies and collection of firearms were well known to police in the area.