The provincial Protection and Response Team has only been in existence province-wide since July 1st. Providing support to the PRT is the newly branded – with expanded duties – Saskatchewan Highway Patrol. By the middle of July there had been 47 provincial response team calls, of those, the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol responded to nine.
Steve Shaheen with the Ministry of Highways says in addition to protecting the provincial highway system through the enforcement of commercial vehicles, the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol will support the provincial Protection and Response Team and enforce Criminal Code violations.
There are presently 24 SHP officers, six more are in training right now, and when fully operational in 48 months time, the goal will be to have 50 in total. He says they will be located all over the province from Prince Albert to Regina and Moose Jaw to Lloydminster and Saskatoon, to name a few. The rule of thumb is that these officers are only dispatched when RCMP and municipal police forces are unavailable, or they might be called out if they can be the first on scene.
Shaheen says they will have training at the provincial police college, they will be equipped with body cameras – they don’t have them as yet but are in the process of buying them. Their vehicles are also equipped with dash cams.