A new unit is being formed within the Alberta Sheriffs to secure the provinces southern border.
Premier Danielle Smith announced Thursday plans for the new 51-officer Interdiction Patrol Team.
“We cannot take concerns about border security lightly,” Smith said. “By establishing this new team of sheriffs at our southern border, we are actively working to address security concerns and stop the criminals whose activities are destroying lives on both sides of the border.”
The Interdiction Patrol Team is charged with cracking down on drug smuggling, gun trafficking and other illegal activities along Alberta’s 298-kilometre international boundary.
The 51 uniformed officers will be equipped with carbine rifles for tactical operations.
The unit will also have 10 support staff, including dispatchers and analysts; four drug patrol dogs; 10 cold weather surveillance drones that can operate in high winds with dedicated pilots; and four narcotics analyzers to test for illicit drugs.
“We have long recognized the need for additional capacity to patrol Alberta’s vulnerable international borders, where any amount of illegal activity is too much,” Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis said.
A two kilometre-deep critical border zone will be created to enable the sheriffs to arrest people found attempting to cross the border illegally or attempting to traffic illegal drugs or weapons, without needing a warrant.
This critical border zone will be created by amending regulations under the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act.
