Regina police chief discusses plane plan, Saskatchewan Firearms Act

The Regina Police Service’s new plane still isn’t operational.

The plane was expected to be ready for takeoff in October, but while it has been flown, it continues to be grounded from a functional point of view.

Chief Evan Bray says the holdup is because of a couple of part issues.

“When we mount the camera at the bottom of the plane — which is an essential part of the unit — the way the plane is configured, the exhaust comes out right in front of the lens of the camera,” he told Friday’s Greg Morgan Morning Show.

Bray said in most police planes, there’s an adaptive piece of exhaust pipe that reroutes the exhaust. That special piece is from Germany.

“We’re expecting that it will be here and in place by the end of the year,” Bray said.

“The plane has been up (and) our pilots are established, however, for operational purposes, we’re not ready to go just yet.”

Bray said the plane will enhance public safety and give police an important aerial view of high-risk situations. He said there are vehicles that don’t stop for police, and that happens on average 400 to 500 times per year.

“The (plane gives us the) ability for our officers on the ground to back off (and) not pursue a vehicle which we know is an incredible risk to public safety, have the plane watch the vehicle until it stops, watch where the suspects go and then make the ground arrests,” Bray said.

Bray said Saskatoon’s police plane has been used to locate vulnerable persons who go missing.

“Twenty-one times in 2021 they were able locate everything from a three-year-old autistic boy to an elderly male who had dementia who had wandered away from a group home,” Bray explained.

Bray on Saskatchewan Firearms Act

On Thursday, the provincial government introduced the Saskatchewan Firearms Act, which is designed to protect lawful firearm owners.

The Saskatchewan government said the act would require and oversee fair compensation for any guns being seized, require forensic and ballistic testing of seized guns, and would establish licensing requirements for businesses or individuals involved in the gun expropriation.

It also would establish a provincial firearm regulatory system to promote the safe and responsible use of guns and create provincial statutes for unsafe storage of firearms, which would allow police to issue charges if a violation is found.

Bray said he believes some of the changes that are made are significant and positive.

“(This) will give us real timely access to any firearms expertise and testing that we need done. That’s something right now there is a long wait time for, so if we have that capability provincially, it will be outstanding,” he said.

Bray added some things relating to the federal government’s buyback program can be challenging and police are worried about it and what it’s going to look like.

“This new extension of the list includes a bunch of semi-automatic weapons that right now would fall into what I would consider regular hunting weapons — rifles, shotguns and handguns. It is in no means a good federal bill,” Bray said.

He said he’s unsure what the bill and provincial legislation will do to municipal police.

“It puts us in a little bit of a bad spot and I think it’s probably too early to contemplate what that’s going to look like. But if we get into a battle between federal legislation and provincial legislation, I can tell you the police will not be the winners in that,” Bray said.

“We’re the ones being asked to enforce the law, so I think it’s going to be a bit complicated.”