Rise of the SWAT team: Routine police work in Canada is now militarized
https://theconversation.com/rise-of-...itarized-90073
If SWAT team deployments were limited to only those situations requiring their equipment and skills, such as hostage-takings and terror threats, there would perhaps be less cause for concern. But similar to previous research conducted in the U.S., we have found this isn’t the reality of Canadian SWAT teams. Instead,
routine policing represented the majority of SWAT team use.
Despite the overall decline in the Calgary tactical unit’s deployments by 2016, almost one third of them were for warrants, which remained steady at around 200-250 instances per year
SWAT teams regularly engage in routine policing, including responding to minor offences or even non-criminal incidents. The Calgary tactical unit deployed almost 300 times in response to various “dispatch codes” in 2007, as well as approximately 200 times each to “disturbances” and “suspicious” incidents.
Deployments in these three categories accounted for nearly 45 per cent of the unit’s total deployments during that year, and continued to represent as much as 30 per cent by 2016.
Deployments for other minor offences, including noise complaints, drug offences, property crimes, traffic violations and motor vehicle collisions represented almost one third of all deployments in 2007, and almost 15 per cent even at their lowest point in 2016.
yeah, I doubt the tactical team really needs that armoured vehicle 500 times a year.