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This article was published 20/12/2019 (282 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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18122019 Brandon Police Service Chief Wayne Balcaen speaks during the unveiling of BPS's new armoured response vehicle at Assiniboine Community College's Public Safety Training Centre at their Victoria Avenue East campus on Thursday. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

Brandon police unveiled its newly acquired armoured rescue vehicle on Thursday.

"Today is certainly an early Christmas for Brandon Police Service as we announce the arrival of our armoured rescue vehicle," Brandon police Chief Wayne Balcaen said during the ARV’s debut at Assiniboine Community College.

"But it is truly a Christmas gift for all the citizens and all of our justice service partners."

The new tactical vehicle, which stands approximately nine and a half feet tall and carries up to 10 officers, is now available to respond to high-risk incidents in Brandon and surrounding communities in southwestern Manitoba.

18122019 Guests take photos of the Brandon Police Service's new armoured response vehicle during the vehicle's unveiling at Assiniboine Community College's Public Safety Training Centre at their Victoria Avenue East campus on Thursday. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

Officers have been trained on special procedures related to the ARV and are ready to respond as needed. The vehicle is also available to other police agencies in the region should they be faced with a high-risk incident.

The unit was built specifically for BPS by Terradyne Armoured Vehicles Inc. and cost approximately $400,000 — funded through the Criminal Property Forfeiture Fund, Balcaen said.

"(The funding for) this came out of the hands of criminals to help law enforcement and does not cost the taxpayers to fund this piece of safety equipment," Balcaen said.

Justice Minister Cliff Cullen said the vehicle will be an "incredible asset" in dangerous situations and "bolster officer and public safety" throughout Westman.

"We’ve seen this vehicle in use in the City of Winnipeg and clearly it gives police officers another tool to look at these high-risk situations. … It’s going to be used to protect police officers, and in some situations protect civilians as well," Cullen said.

18122019 an interior photo of Brandon Police Service's new armoured response vehicle on display during the vehicle's unveiling at Assiniboine Community College's Public Safety Training Centre at their Victoria Avenue East campus on Thursday. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

"It’s really like an insurance policy — you buy an insurance policy and you hope you never need it, but sooner or later you are going to have to call on that insurance policy. Sooner or later, police officers will use this tool to their advantage as well."

In 2018, BPS’s Emergency Response Team was deployed 14 times to resolve incidents, Balcaen said.

In 2019 to date, the Emergency Response Team was deployed six times — still triple the historic average of two deployments a year.

Police have also been faced with increases in calls for service, violent crime and weapon-related incidents in the last several years, Balcaen said.

"With the increase in crime, the number of times that we have been deployed to situations where firearms are involved or there was high risk — that’s the reason why we need this," Balcaen said. "It’s really about the safety of our officers and our citizens. If somebody is harmed or injured and we need to extract them from that situation, this is a very safe way to do that."

18122019 Brandon Mayor Rick Chrest looks over the Brandon Police Service's new armoured response vehicle during the vehicle's unveiling at Assiniboine Community College's Public Safety Training Centre at their Victoria Avenue East campus on Thursday. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

See ‘Armoured’ — Page A3

BPS has faced criticisms regarding the perceived militarization of police since it was announced that Brandon would be receiving an ARV, Balcaen said, re-asserting this is not the case.

"It is not armed with any weapons, and it is strictly, as the name says, an Armoured Rescue Vehicle," Balcaen said. "We will use it for those purposes, we are not using it for militarization or to use it in any offensive manner."

The ARV is currently being stored at Assiniboine Community College until BPS creates a proper space to store it.

» edebooy@brandonsun.com

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