Federal public safety minister suspends sale of decommissioned RCMP vehicles

OTTAWA — Public Safety Minister Bill Blair has suspended the sale of decommissioned RCMP vehicles, two days after a man in Nova Scotia was arrested for allegedly impersonating an officer while driving a fake police car.

The suspect’s 2013 Ford Taurus was a decommissioned police car and was allegedly altered to look like an unmarked police vehicle.

The car was similar to the replica RCMP cruiser used by a gunman who killed 22 people in Nova Scotia during a 13-hour rampage on April 18-19.

Blair issued a statement today saying the RCMP’s resale process for decommissioned vehicles ensures they cannot easily be misused for criminal purposes.

The minister said, however, such sales will be suspended to ensure the process is not flawed.

Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil said today he was pleased with Blair’s decision.

“It’s a great first step,” McNeil said, adding that the province’s justice minister, Mark Furey, has been working with Blair on the police vehicle file. 

“We have a piece of legislation that will be introduced during the next session. It deals with (police) accessories and how to deal with municipal (police) vehicles in our province.”

On Wednesday, the Mounties said that in the most recent case, a 23-year-old suspect from Antigonish, N.S., may have used the car in question to pull over other vehicles in the Halifax region and Antigonish County.

The vehicle was outfitted with LED lights in the rear window, a microphone on the dashboard, a public address system, citizens band radio and a push bar with LED lights mounted on the grill. 

Police also confirmed the suspect did not appear to have any police clothing or firearms of any kind.

“It remains illegal to impersonate a police officer and we will take every step possible to prevent such crimes from taking place,” Blair said in the statement. “We will continue to work so that all Canadians feel safe in their communities.” 

The vehicle used in the April mass shooting was heavily modified with an emergency light bar on the roof and decals that looked exactly like those found on marked RCMP cruisers. 

Early in the RCMP’s investigation of the mass killing, a senior officer said the killer’s vehicle allowed him to “circulate around the province, steps ahead of our investigators.” 

The replica vehicle was so convincing that questions were raised about the availability of former police vehicles for public purchase. 

The Mounties have confirmed that on the night of April 18, the killer set fire to several homes and killed 13 people in Portapique before evading police later that night while disguised as an RCMP officer. 

The next morning, he resumed killing people he knew and others at random before he was fatally shot by a Mountie at a gas station in Enfield, N.S., which is just north of Halifax. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 22, 2021.

The Canadian Press