The Minister of Community Safety is pausing the development of the Saskatchewan Marshals Service’s Special Response Unit, as well as its Request for Proposals for tactical police equipment. 

Earlier this week, Scott Moe said that the government was looking into whether the RFP, for multi-shot launchers, ballistic shields and a long-range acoustic device, should be moving forward at all. He added that the focus ought to be on supporting police forces and the RCMP.  

The Saskatchewan NDP called this “an embarrassing response from the Premier… Scott Moe is ignorant of what his own Marshals service is doing.” The Opposition also called on the RFP to be withdrawn. 

This morning, Safety Minister Michael Weger released a statement, saying “I have told the Saskatchewan Marshals Service to pause the development of the Specialized Response Unit. There will be no equipment purchased for this unit. The Marshals’ focus going forward will be on working alongside the Saskatchewan RCMP, Municipal and First Nations police forces to strengthen community safety and protect residents across the province.”

The NDP then released a response, calling on the Province to “be transparent with the people of Saskatchewan about how much public money went in to this non-existent unit that is now being put on pause.” It also asked them to release the total cost of all the equipment the Marshals have purchased to date.   

Weger will be speaking to media at 11:00 a.m. on Friday.