Saskatoon police say armoured vehicle paid for itself by keeping people safe

Saskatoon Police have had an armoured vehicle for three years and say it has paid for itself in terms of keeping people safe.

Sgt. Ken Kane said the vehicle was key in helping to rescue five people from a standoff in 2014. He remembers the look on one of the women's faces.

"She is looking at me with sheer terror, wondering why I am not coming to get her and I can't because I am going to get shot, and then I am no good to her," said Kane., adding officers brought in the armoured vehicle and were able to get the victims out of the range of gunfire.

"Once they were out of harms way, we were able to put the vehicle back in front of the residence because he continued to shoot. It then acted like a bullet blocker for the neighbourhood," he said. 

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Winnipeg police purchased an armoured vehicle for $342,000. Some experts have said the move is "militarizing" the police service. Police said the vehicle is needed to keep officers and the public safe in certain situations like executing a warrant where weapons might be involved.

Kane, who is a sergeant with the Saskatoon tactical unit, said the team uses the vehicle regularly when executing search warrants. The vehicle will accompany the tactical team with medics, officers and negotiators inside.

"We park that vehicle, we make a phone call inside, the suspects surrender peacefully to us, and there is no use of force," said Kane.

He said the number of suspects barricading themselves inside homes has gone down. "When we pull up with that thing with the red and blue lights and all that stuff, everybody knows it's the police there to serve a search warrant."

Kane admitted it is aggressive looking and said Saskatoon police also received push back when it got the vehicle in 2012. He said his team takes the armoured vehicle to community events to let the public have a look.

"We show them what it does and allow them to go into it," said Kane. "We're not trying to make it a wedge between us and the community." 

Winnipeg is among the last major Canadian cities to purchase such a vehicle for its police service. Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Saskatoon, Edmonton, London, Sault Ste. Marie, Peel, Durham and Ottawa all have armoured vehicles.