ESTEVAN - The Estevan and Weyburn Police Services have had a joint tactical unit since 2020, with highly-trained officers from both communities.
The unit is comprised of 12 officers, with seven from Estevan and five from Weyburn. They respond to calls within both communities, whether it be a pre-planned deployment or an unforeseen high-risk situation.
"If we need more members with additional training or additional equipment capabilities, then they call us in to deal with that," said Detective Sgt. Trevor Roberts of the EPS, who is the team lead.
They have also responded to calls in the rural areas at the request of the RCMP. Roberts said they work closely with the RCMP's crisis negotiator team and the critical incident command, which is a supporting element for an incident or deployment.
Roberts estimates the tactical unit is called out about 10 times per year.
Previously the EPS had a containment warrant entry team (CWET) but Weyburn did not. Local officers had been called to Weyburn over the years, and he believed there was a need to work in partnership with them, creating a unit with the best-suited members from both communities.
"We just saw the need that if they were interested in a team that's their own or a joint one, it makes sense because we work together so often anyhow," said Roberts. "Just the way some of these investigations and call-outs overlap the communities, it's nice to have access to the best candidates from both cities to make up a group of the 12 best, most suited people to respond to these calls."
Roberts noted that some of the members were part of the EPS' CWET previously. He views this as an evolution to a tactical team with more equipment and training capabilities to assist police in both communities.
"What's unique with us, too, is some of our members have received training not just locally here in Saskatchewan, but we've worked with teams in other provinces and also taken some internationally as well with SWAT teams and tactical teams," said Roberts.
To be considered for the team, Roberts said an officer needs several years of policing experience. When there is an opening, officers from both services can apply. Candidates need to go through firearms, scenario-based screening and fitness testing.
"It's a rigorous process over a few days in which they're scored accordingly in each component, and then it's based on the fitness and the best results from the selection days that they're put through," said Roberts.
A selection day was held in Estevan last December in which applicants went through the different testing components.
"There's a lot of work that goes into those applicants on their own time to get ready, and … to get physically and mentally prepared for a process like that," said Roberts.
Many members have an interest early in their careers in the tactical side of policing, and a lot of time spent when they're off duty to stand out and be ready to be selected.
When the team is deployed, they bring a lot of equipment to a scene or a location that a police officer might not typically have.
An incident like the armed standoff that occurred in Estevan late in the winter made more people aware that the two communities have such a team.
"A lot of times when the team's deployed, people don't even realize that maybe we were called out in the middle of the night or the early morning hours … unless you're maybe a close neighbour or see us as a team doing something."
But because the incident was high-profile, and occurred during the day and on a busy road, more people knew the team existed.
Roberts said it has benefited both services to access the tactical and training skills of members from both cities, giving them the numbers needed to maintain a properly-sized team with people who are adequately trained.
