No rise in calls for police tactical squad

The Jasper Park neighbourhood in west Edmonton was paralyzed for 12 hours mid-January as the police tactical unit descended on a house where a man had barricaded himself overnight.

Two police command centres with negotiators were set up in a nearby strip mall. Several streets were cordoned off and an elementary school across the street closed.

The 31-year-old man, who was allegedly armed, was arrested at 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 18.

The man faces six charges, including assault, intimidation, careless use of a firearm, unauthorized possession of a prohibited firearm in a motor vehicle, among others. His name isn’t being released because the incident involved domestic violence. Releasing his name may identify victims in the case, police said Thursday.

While that event garnered a lot of public attention, the tactical unit isn’t seeing an increase in such incidents, Staff Sgt. Trevor Hermanutz said.

There are about 400 calls for the tactical unit every year, including minor incidents where only one or two squad members are required. Less than 10 per cent of the calls are critical incidents. In the past six years, the number of critical calls has fluctuated between 23-41.

“Sometimes you have to be overt to resolve it safely and sometimes the overt way of doing things resolves it a lot quicker than kind of sitting back and waiting for the actions of the subject to dictate what you do,” Hermanutz said.

“They see the presence and they recognize the risk, and sometimes, based on that, they’ll surrender.”

The tactical unit was formed in 1973, after a study conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that large cities should have specialized units to deal with high-risk incidents, including hostage situations, barricaded people, apprehending dangerous suspects and conducting high-risk searches.

The team is called on to respond after assessing a number of factors in a case, including if a person has weapons, has made threats or has a criminal history, Hermanutz said.

In Calgary, the number of critical calls remained steady at about 50 in 2014 and 2015. In that same period, the tactical unit there saw an increase in calls for service from 177 to 256.

“We don’t deploy just because there’s information that there’s a gun or a knife or a bat. There has to be some intelligence to indicate what the situation is,” Calgary Insp. Blair White said.

Calgary has 30 tactical team members. Edmonton police won’t disclose how many officers are on its team.

While the purpose of Edmonton and Calgary’s tactical units is the same — to keep the public safe — White said they operate and keep statistics differently, which means they can’t be compared.

“Your basic gun call, across the country, tactical units would deploy immediately, but it’s those inbetween files that aren’t so clear because it depends on your jurisdiction,” White said.

Hermanutz’s team has changed a lot since the 1970s. They have better equipment, including a small armoured vehicle and cameraequipped robots to enter buildings first where warranted.

“If we have an armoured vehicle with properly equipped, welltrained people, and the subject comes out and he has a firearm and he’s going to walk into the community, my guys can deal with the threat a lot more efficiently and effectively,” he said.

Sometimes you have to be overt to resolve it safely and sometimes the overt way of doing things resolves it a lot quicker.