Police buy $500,000 armoured Black Wolf to replace aging Grizzly
The Edmonton Police Service has spent approximately a half-million dollars on a new armoured vehicle to replace its 42-year-old Grizzly vehicle.
Police say the purchase, a Cambli Black Wolf, was budgeted and ordered in 2017 to replace one of its two vehicles — which was donated by the Department of National Defence in 2007 — because it was nearing its end of life. The new vehicle is expected to arrive this fall, and will be referred to as Armoured Rescue Vehicle (ARV) 2.
EPS bought a Ballistic Armoured Tactical Transport (B.A.T.T.) vehicle in 2013 for $315,000.
“This is a simple process of replacing a critical piece of infrastructure that is necessary to keep citizens and officers safe,” Chief Dale Mcfee said in a Thursday news release.
“These armoured rescue vehicles only come into play when officers are dealing with armed, violent and dangerous individuals, and unfortunately, in a city as large as ours, with increasing rates of violence and assaults involving weapons, it’s a reality we have to face. We need not look any further back than the recent attack on pedestrians on Jasper Avenue in 2017 or the many gun calls our members face weekly.”
Police departments with armoured vehicles often argue they are necessary to protect the public during events like mass shootings and high-risk scenarios. The new vehicle is designed to withstand small arms fire, with a relatively small size that makes it manoeuvrable in urban settings.
Calgary’s police department procured an armoured vehicle from the Cambli Group in 2018.
The current Grizzly vehicle has been used more than 50 times, while the other vehicle has been used 250 times since it was purchased in 2013, police said.
Spokesman Scott Pattison said in 2014 the department didn’t use the Grizzly often because it had recently purchased the second vehicle.
When asked about whether EPS would be purchasing a third vehicle, the agency told Postmedia last week questions about funding for armoured vehicles or replacements would have to be answered through the Freedom of Information and Privacy (FOIP) unit.
EPS said the Grizzly was used to retrieve hate crimes investigator Const. Dan Woodall’s body, and his partner, after he was fatally shot at a west-end home in 2015.
The Grizzly will be retired once officers are trained on using the new machine.
As part of the original conditions of donation, the EPS is not permitted to sell the Grizzly.
This is a simple process of replacing a critical piece of infrastructure ... to keep citizens and officers safe.