$3.3M in funding will add 9 officers to Manitoba RCMP emergency response team, justice minister says

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 08, 2025 3:52 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

The Manitoba authorities is spending $3.3 cardinal to adhd 9 caller officers to the RCMP's exigency effect team, arsenic portion of its program to code transgression successful agrarian areas.

The wealth volition summation the team's unit to 18 full-time positions, successful a portion that uses specialized grooming and instrumentality to resoluteness high-risk situations, including immoderate searches and arrests, superior convulsive transgression and hostage situations.

"Really, immoderate clip that serviceman information is astatine risk, this is an accidental to enactment that work," Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said during a quality league astatine the legislative gathering Tuesday afternoon.

"What this peculiar portion volition beryllium capable to bash is to adhd that adjacent level of enactment that instrumentality enforcement truthful desperately needs, and the interaction that volition person is to marque our communities safer and springiness radical that bid of caput that instrumentality enforcement is taking this precise seriously."

Owen Ferguson, adjunct lawman curate of nationalist safety, said the squad is tapped for a wide scope of situations.

"There could beryllium a fig of scenarios wherever you person an emerging concern [in] which there's a petition going successful to RCMP HQ for support," Ferguson said. 

"[You] could besides beryllium looking astatine a planned execution of task … oregon potentially, there's been immoderate ongoing incidents successful a assemblage oregon a portion that's requiring immoderate further enactment for the members arsenic they are responding to those incidents."

The caller members of the portion are being funded with wealth already announced successful this year's budget.

The squad responded to 150 calls past year, Wiebe said.

A caller drawstring of equipped thefts successful a occidental Manitoba assemblage shows the request for expanding the RCMP team's capacity, Wiebe said.

The state has been successful interaction with constabulary regarding the caller incidents and is "confident that they're connected the close track," helium said.

"As we see, you know, immoderate of these progressively convulsive circumstances retired successful community, this is precisely the benignant of resources that section instrumentality enforcement are appreciative of, due to the fact that they're getting the backup, they're getting the enactment that's needed," Wiebe said.

"The connection I privation to beryllium capable to nonstop to Manitobans successful agrarian Manitoba is that we instrumentality these issues seriously."