Saint John Police Unveil New Rescue Vehicle

The Saint John Police Force has taken possession of its brand new armoured rescue vehicle.

The $380,000 vehicle was donated by Commercial Properties Ltd., a property owner and management company based in the city.

John Irving, president of the company, said the idea came from conversations he had with the police chief after last summer’s shootings in Fredericton.

Two police officers and two civilians were shot and killed on the north side of the capital city on Aug. 10, 2018.

“These [shootings] are happening at an ever-increasing rate and everybody comes to a memorial service afterwards but we wanted to ask the chief what could we do to be helpful today that might improve outcomes for people going forward,” said Irving. “The idea was to be a little bit proactive.”

The #SaintJohn Police Force is officially taking ownership of its new rescue vehicle, donated by Commercial Properties Ltd. Here’s president John Irving explaining why they decided to make this donation. pic.twitter.com/EfMz55piMl

— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) November 14, 2019

Police Chief Bruce Connell said the vehicle will help keep officers and residents safe in high-risk situations, like an active shooter, and will provide tactical support.

“In the worst of times, if something terribly goes wrong, our new rescue vehicle — which will be known as Rescue 1 — may be the difference of somebody going home safely to their loved ones,” said Connell.

The vehicle, which was built by Cambli Group in Quebec, is similar to ones used by the Fredericton Police Force and the New Brunswick RCMP.

“This is just one more tool in the toolkit in the event of those unspeakable type of activities or tragedies that occur.”

But Connell said he hopes it is a tool the force will never have to deploy.