New funding lets police augment their equipment

The Regina Police Service will be the owners of an Avatar III robot, modular cameras and rifle scopes, thanks to new funding from the provincial government announced Thursday.

Nearly $330,000 from the Ministry of Corrections and Policing will be distributed to police and community-based organizations (CBOS) across the province for new policing tools and programming.

The funding is provided through the Criminal Property Forfeiture Program.

“Municipal police services greatly appreciate the financial support provided by government through the Criminal Property Forfeiture Fund,” Marlo Pritchard, president of the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police and Weyburn’s police chief, said in a news release.

“These additional, unbudgeted funds allow Saskatchewan police services to acquire additional equipment, which assists in increasing the safety and security of the communities in which we serve,” Pritchard said.

The funds will go toward a robotic search stick, a vented drug processing cabinet and an ION scanner for the Saskatoon Police Service, lightweight body armour and helmets for the Prince Albert Police Service, off-road equipment for the File Hills Police Service and a youth cadet corps program for the File Hills Board of Police Commissioners.

Saskatchewan seeks the forfeiture of property considered to be proceeds or an instrument of unlawful activity. Any cash resulting from the forfeitures is deposited into the fund.

By law, when funding is disbursed to a police service, equivalent funding is deposited from the Criminal Property Forfeiture Fund into the Victims’ Fund.

This year, nearly $50,000 of approximately $330,000 will be distributed to CBOS, while $280,000 goes to police services. This will result in a matching $280,000 to be deposited from the forfeiture fund into the Victims’ Fund.

According to the province, the money helps victims with such needs as counselling, medical bills and replacement of valuables.

In spring 2017, an addition was made to the regulations to allow money from the fund to go to community programs or activities designed to promote public safety, such as the youth cadet corps program. This is in addition to the support the fund already provides to police operations and the Victims’ Fund.