Rural crime team has responded to more than 400 calls since April

A rural crime-fighting team created a year ago and in operation since April has already responded to more than 400 calls, the provincial government says.

The Saskatchewan Protection and Response Team (PRT) includes 258 armed officers tasked with improving response time to calls, increasing drug enforcement on the province's highways and reducing injuries and fatalities on the roads.

The team comprises officers from the RCMP, municipal police services, commercial vehicle enforcement officers and conservation officers. In addition, 30 new positions were created to fill out the ranks of the PRT.

"Protection and Response Team members have assisted the RCMP on several occasions, over the last year, by providing the initial response to in-progress, Criminal Code calls for service," Curtis Zablocki, assistant commissioner and commanding officer of the RCMP in Saskatchewan, said in a news release.

In one example given by the government, a conservation officer assisted the RCMP in a high-risk takedown.

When it was launched, the price tag for the crime fighting team was $5.9 million, with the Ministry of Justice chipping in $1 million while SGIfooted the rest of the bill.

As well, 136 patrol vehicles used by the PRTwere kitted out with automatic licence plate readers, which cost Saskatchewan Government Insurance about $3.8 million.

Justice Minister Don Morgan says the reports back from the country, while anecdotal, are encouraging.

For instance, he says, the highways and conservation officers are now part of the 911 system.

"A person would phone 911 or would phone the RCMP and would be able to see out their window a conservation officer or a highway traffic officer that wouldn't know there was a 911 call in place," he said Friday.

First Nations voiced concerns

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations had concerns about the whether adding more armed officers would address crime problems.

It also wondered whether these newly sworn officers would be subject to the same rules and oversight as RCMP and municipal officers.

Morgan says the same checks and balances exist.

"The Public Complaints Commission willapply to them," he said.

"Because they've got the additional powers of arrest [and]they're carrying sidearms, they have to be subject to the same disciplinary and complaints process. We haven't had complaints yet."