National Post (National Edition)

Small town police force wears out patrol rifles

TRAINING BLAMED

- TYLER DAWSON National Post tdawson@postmedia.com Twitter.com/tylerrdaws­on

EDMONTON • Police in the small southern Alberta town of Taber are in the market for new carbines — a short rifle used on patrol — as their old ones wore out from too much use.

The town, famed for its corn, is located about one hour north of the U.S.-Canada border, and is home to less than 10,000 people.

Even so, it has its own police force of 15 officers, one of the only small towns in Alberta with its own police. Most smaller municipali­ties in the province are policed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Since 2009, officers in Taber have used four Heckler & Koch 416 patrol rifles, a variant of which was reportedly used by U.S. Navy Seal Team Six to kill Osama bin Laden in May 2011.

The guns, which the Taber Municipal Police Commission calls “one of the best patrol carbine platforms in existence,” began to wear out in 2017.

They were kept going with replacemen­t parts, until recently, when an armorer in Calgary said they’d worn out from “excessive use.”

“It is estimated that the four rifles in service since 2009 have fired over 20,000 rounds each, which is the cause of the consistent parts failures in recent years,” says a report by the Taber police commission.

The manufactur­er says the guns have a usable life of between 10,000 and 15,000 rounds.

In an email to the National Post, Taber’s police chief, Graham Abela, said the rounds were almost exclusivel­y fired during training.

“We have only fired the carbines on duty to occasional­ly euthanize a wounded animal,” Abela wrote. “Fortunatel­y, we have never fired a firearm at a person during my tenure as a police officer in Taber, pistol or carbine.”

Late last month, Taber’s town council approved the purchase of five new carbines, capping the cost at $15,000.

The force looked into getting five new HK 416 weapons, but found the price had gone up because of the pressure on firearms sales due to the Liberal government’s gun ban.

To re-equip officers, they said, would cost more than $18,000.

And so, the hunt was on for a newer — cheaper — gun. The proposal: the Primary Weapon Systems MK111.

“We’ve seen the MK111 used successful­ly in hog hunts, LE and SWAT training courses, and more,” says the manufactur­er’s website.

The emergency purchase of the five new guns (that’s four to replace the old carbines, plus one spare weapon) will cost roughly $12,500, including a discount of nearly $2,000 on the purchase secured by the police.

The town council is now deciding whether to buy the guns now and save some money or wait for the next budget, when the discount may not be available.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada