Police radios didn't work in casino shooting

Two St. Albert RCMP officers shot at the Apex Casino last year could not have radioed for help because their radios didn't work in that building, suggests a federal investigation.

A report provided to the Gazette this week by the Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada (MPPAC) sheds new light on the 2015 shootings of Const. David Wynn and auxiliary Const. Derek Bond.

The two officers were shot Jan. 17, 2015, while investigating a stolen truck spotted at the Apex Casino. Wynn died several days later.

Federal Health and Safety officer Bradley Tetarenko launched a nine-month investigation into the shooting on Jan. 19, 2015, says the report. It was issued to RCMP K Division's Deputy Commissioner Marianne Ryan Oct. 21, 2015.

Tetarenko found that the St. Albert RCMP had contravened the Canada Labour Code in four ways.

“The portable radios assigned to Const. Wynn and Auxiliary Officer Bond failed to transmit and receive inside the Apex Casino,” he wrote.

Tetarenko also found that the cruiser radio of a Const. Cassie could not transmit or receive messages to or from Bond and Wynn's radios.

He noted that the St. Albert RCMP had not developed a safe process for communications between the detachment and officers once inside the casino “where portable radios were known to fail to transmit or receive clearly,” and that Bond's actions on the day of the shooting “appear to have exceeded the expected duties of an auxiliary officer.”

Tetarenko ordered the RCMP to assess hazards associated with the activities of auxiliary constables and its radios, ensure its equipment (radios) was safe under all conditions of intended use, and to bring in preventative measures to the problems with its radios. It gave the RCMP until Nov. 13 to implement this order.

The RCMP appealed the order to the Occupational Health and Safety Tribunal Canada on Nov. 17, 2015. The Mounted Police Professional Association Canada (MPPAC) is the respondent in the appeal, a date for which has not been set.

National RCMP spokesperson Const. Annie Delisle said the RCMP could not comment on the report as it was the subject of an appeal.

“Unfortunately, the issue with the radios is certainly not limited to the St. Albert detachment,” said Robert Creasser, a retired RCMP officer and spokesperson for MPPAC.

“This problem is actually quite widespread and it may be part of the reason that the RCMP is appealing the directive they were given.”

Creasser said his recent interviews with RCMP officers suggest that there are many places where their radios just don't work – a combination of geography, lack of radio coverage and outdated technology.

“Some of the people that have been posting on our website talk about the portable radios they have being from the '88 Winter Olympics.”

Officers have told him the current solution the RCMP has to this problem is to issue officers flip-phones as a backup, he continued.

“It's really difficult to open a flip phone while you're scrapping with someone on the ground. I don't think it's a very effective alternative.”

Bruce McPherson, owner of the Apex Casino, said this was the first time he'd heard about the RCMP's radios not working in his building.

“This is news to me,” he said.

He wasn't sure why the radios wouldn't work because the ones the casino's guards use function properly, but guessed that all the metal and electronics in the casino could be the cause.

McPherson said he was surprised that he hadn't heard about this problem before, and said he would call the St. Albert detachment to see how he could help solve it.

Creasser said radios mean life and death when officers need to call for backup, and it's by “God's grace” that officers don't get hurt more often due to radio problems.

“This will not be a cheap fix, but does it mean it shouldn't be fixed? Absolutely not,” he said.

“If you don't want to keep having regimental funerals for RCMP members ... you're going to have to spend some money.”