The inquiry into the Nova Scotia mass shooting has heard from a former Mountie who says he became so frustrated trying to get the RCMP to adopt a new public notification system that he resigned from the police force. Mark Furey, who later served as Nova Scotia’s justice minister, said that in January 2012 he was an RCMP sergeant when he recommended that police begin using the National Public Warning System, which at the time could broadcast intrusive alerts via television and radio. “Managed properly, the availability and implementation of a (public notification system) in Nova Scotia could be considered an asset to frontline police service providers responding to emergencies, e.g. wildfires, floods, weather events,” Furey’s briefing note said. . But Furey said in a statement submitted to the inquiry last month that his superiors rejected the idea, leaving him feeling frustrated. “There were many and difficult conversations” with senior RCMP officials, Furey told the inquiry in a statement dated Aug. 22. 2012.” After a gunman killed 22 people in rural Nova Scotia during a 13-hour rampage in April 2020, the RCMP faced intense criticism for not using the public notification system now known as Alert Ready. The system can be used to issue intrusive public warnings via radio, television and wireless devices. The Mounties have repeatedly stated that Alert Ready was not part of their “toolbox” at the time, although the police force was in the process of preparing such an alert when the gunman was shot by two Mounties on April 19, 2020. Furey’s 2012 recommendation and subsequent rejection were discussed during inquiry hearings on Friday, when one of the RCMP’s most senior officers was asked why the police force had turned its back on the idea. Deputy Commissioner Brian Brennan, who in 2012 was the RCMP’s criminal operations officer in Nova Scotia, said he recalled discussions about the proposal in terms of investment, resources, training and policy compliance. “We just didn’t have the infrastructure,” he testified. “I just don’t think the pieces were in place.” Brennan said he did not recall any direct conversations with Furey in 2012 and reported that other senior Mounties rejected the alert system proposal. “I don’t recall anything coming to my level for a decision,” he said, adding that the use of the system to notify the public about police investigations, including active shooter situations, was not considered. In his statement, Fuey told the inquiry he never received a written response from the RCMP. Earlier this year, Nova Scotia Office of Emergency Management chief Paul Mason confirmed Mounties had not considered using Alert Ready on April 18-19, 2020, until his agency suggested it. “At the end of the day, it didn’t cross their minds,” Mason told investigators on Feb. 15. “I find it amazing that you could have an event go on from 10:30 on a Saturday night to 11:30 on a Sunday and no one thought of a notification until we called them.” The inquest heard that the RCMP relied heavily on Twitter to issue public warnings about what was happening. But some of the victims’ relatives complained that warnings on social media were of little use to people in rural areas, where Twitter is not as popular. Also, previously released evidence confirmed that senior RCMP officers were concerned that a wider public warning could have put officers at risk by causing panic. Mounties also suggested that 911 operators could have been overwhelmed by callers seeking information. Mason said the Mounties were well aware of the system’s capabilities by 2020. In 2016, the RCMP rejected an offer by the EMO to take over responsibility for issuing police alerts, he said. But on April 30, 2021 — more than a year after the shooting spree — the Nova Scotia RCMP signed an agreement authorizing Mounties to issue their own alerts through the Alert Ready system. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on September 12, 2022.
