KRG looks at allowing sidearms for Nunavik police

KANGIRSUJUAQ — Because of growing fears for the safety of regional police officers, Kativik’s regional government is looking at letting KRPF members carry sidearms.

The Quebec provincial police and other native police forces in Quebec already carry sidearms.

Last year constables in the Kativik Regional Police Force seized 254 guns and rifles that were used in the commission of criminal offenses.

About 125 of those weapons came from Puvirnituq, and many had sawed-off barrels or stocks with modified firing pins.

But while Nunavik’s community police often confiscate guns during potentially explosive situations, they still don’t carry any sidearms themselves.

This balance of power may change, because the Kativik Regional Government’s regional council is now considering whether to support a resolution that would let its police carry sidearms — discreet, 9 mm Berettas.

“I was flabbergasted by the amount of firearms that were confiscated,” said Johnny Adams, the KRG’s chairman. “Perhaps they should have some means to protect themselves, or else we might put them in jeopardy.”

In the past, when persuasion hasn’t been able to defuse violence, the Kativik police used pepper spray or batons, instead of guns.

“It’s something I’ve worked without for seven years,” said the KRPF’s deputy chief, Brian Jones. “I’m a strong believer in trust. If he [an offender] is treated with respect, he’s not going to go and get a gun and shoot you. Guns are a last resort. You use them when you have no place to run.”

Nunavik’s police have kept rifles in their cars or at their police stations, but say that they don’t like to use them because they’re cumbersome, overly powerful, and so obvious that their presence can actually make an unstable situation more volatile.

But if police are nervous about the prospect of carrying guns, they’re even more worried about what will happen if they don’t.

With booze, drugs and guns now commonplace in the communities they serve, police are convinced that someday soon, someone is going to fire a gun at one of their own members or at innocent bystanders.

“As we get involved with the society down South,” one constable reflected, “So, our society is changing.”

Still, the KRPF’s chief of police admits that carrying sidearms will create a “complicated situation” for Nunavik’s force.

If the KRPF decides to issue sidearms, all regular constables will receive their own weapons, even if they don’t wear them at all times. Police will also have to be properly trained in sidearms and respect certain conditions regarding their use.

While the regional government is deciding whether or not its police force should carry weapons, Nunavik communities will soon consider adopting a general municipal by-law regarding peace, law and order as well as a by-law regarding traffic, both of which could make the KRPF’s job much easier.

Up to now, it’s been hard for police to even think about giving out tickets to speeders, for instance, because they haven’t had any municipal by-laws to back them up.

Municipalities have lacked the necessary infrastructures to even think of adopting such by-laws, Nunavik’s traveling court is overloaded with criminal case and there haven’t been enough justices of the peace in communities to hear summary offenses.

“If you put something in place and it doesn’t end up somewhere, people won’t respect it,” said the KRG’s head legal counsel, Isabelle Parizeau. “It’s not because the police don’t want to be responsible, it’s because they don’t have all the tools.”

Police hope that this new municipal by-law will be enacted by June 30, at least in some communities such as Salluit, Inukjuak and Kuujjuaq that now have justice-of-peaces. The decision as to whether police will be able to arm themselves should also be final near this date.