SAFETY FOR POLICE GOES ONLY SO FAR

KELOWNA -- The president of the company that makes body armour for the
RCMP says there is no practical way to always shield officers from
high-powered bullets

Details of Thursday's Mayerthorpe, Alta., killings, in which four RCMP
officers were slain at a marijuana grow operation, have yet to become
clear. However, Brad Field of Kelowna's Pacific Safety Products said
Friday there is always a trade-off between protection and the
officer's ability to move efficiently and quickly

Field said the soft body armour that is standard issue for officers
will stop bullets from handguns, but it's no match for high-calibre
weapons -- even a .30-06, which is a common deer, elk or moose hunting
rifle

"There are ceramic inserts, but they are quite heavy," said Field.
"ERT (emergency response teams) might use them, but you wouldn't want
to wear one day-to-day

"Protection of the head is the most challenging. There are ballistic
helmets, but they won't stop high-calibre threats either

"It's a trade-off because it's also very important that police are as
mobile as they can be." Alberta RCMP have said that the man accused of
being the Mayerthorpe cop killer, James Roszko, used "a rapid fire
auto carbine assault-style rifle." Kelowna RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon
said Friday was a time for everyone at the detachment to reflect on
the nature of the job and the equipment available

"It's a pretty sombre mood around the detachment, and a time for
reflection," he said. "Are we doing things properly? Have we exposed
ourselves to risk? "I'm pretty comfortable with where we're at. We
have a good training system of officer safety. In fact, we just had a
session last week."

Among other techniques, the detachment uses a computer program which
trains officers for 164 situations, including simulated officer shootings.

They can use the system to access different options depending on the
level of threat.

"They practise going through intervention or use of force models or
whether it's hand-to-hand combat or if they have to resort to lethal
force," said McKinnon.

"We do risk assessment all the time. Before you ever do a search, you
run a search of the person's record. Do they have firearms? Hopefully,
you'd also want to know everything you could about the layout of the
yard or the residence you're about to search.

"Every situation is different. Usually we have a plan of how we're
going to enter a residence, often referred to as high-risk takedowns.
It's very seldom we just show up and come through the front door."

The minimum number of officers busting a small grow-op might be four,
said McKinnon. For a large grow, there could be up to a dozen.

"Usually when we go in, we've received information telling us how big
the grow is," said McKinnon. "We've done grows where we've used
emergency response teams because of information that there was a
likelihood of firearms."

Police will receive that information via record checks or through
informants telling them if firearms are inside.

"Sometimes the informant will tell us that the person has made
comments that if the police are involved, they will resort to violence
- - that they won't go down without a fight," said McKinnon.

He said he thinks the protection available to members is
adequate.

"We do have a hard hat that the ERT team wears, but it doesn't cover
the face," he said. "No matter what you do, you have to have your eyes
exposed so you can see what you're doing. There is no piece of body
armour that allows you to cover your eyes."

In the end, there is no way to always be safe, said
McKinnon.

"We deal with people with lengthy records of violence on a daily
basis," he said.