Mapping program Mounties struggled to open could have helped contain N.S. mass killer
A report looking into a mapping program the RCMP had access to -- but couldn't open -- during the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia concludes it could have helped contain the killer's rampage.
The study by Brian Corbett, an analyst with the inquiry, compares images of potential escape routes the RCMP viewed on Google Earth with what they could have seen through Pictometry -- the trade name at the time for a program that uses high-resolution aerial images.
The inquiry has heard that after killing 13 people in Portapique, N.S., the gunman drove his replica police car along a narrow dirt road that led to three intersections that weren't initially being watched.
RCMP supervisors have said they chose just to block the main road because the mapping images they used suggested to them the smaller routes weren't passable by car.
However, Corbett found Pictometry "makes it more apparent that these are driveable roads," while the Google Earth image is "unclear."
After comparing maps of key escape routes, Corbett wrote, "Pictometry imagery would have given the RCMP a better understanding of the road networks in Portapique, thereby enhancing containment efforts." At the time, the program was referred to as Pictometry, but it is now called Eagleview, the name of the U.S. parent company.
On April 18, 2020, at 10:32 p.m., as the first three Mounties advanced into the community on foot, Const. Vicki Colford was stationed at the main road's intersection with the highway. A fifth RCMP officer went to the same location at 10:43 p.m.
The inquiry has said that sometime between 10:41 p.m. and 10:45 p.m., the killer slipped away onto Highway 2 and drove to an industrial park in Debert, N.S., before killing nine more people on April 19. According to inquiry documents, the killer escaped on a dirt road next to a blueberry field at the southern end of Portapique, reaching a U-shaped loop that connected with the highway east of where Colford was stationed.
The first officer to supervise the response, Staff Sgt. Brian Rehill, said in an interview with the inquiry last year the maps he saw showed "little gravel roads," but he believed there was only one route out of the enclave by car. "That's where I had all the containment set up," he said.
Jen MacCallum, a supervisor at the RCMP's Operational Communications Centre who worked with Rehill that night, said in an interview with the inquiry that Pictometry "was not working that night."
"I was trying to get the passwords and everything to work, I could not," she said, adding that a "millennial techie guy" in her office also couldn't solve the issue.
Staff Sgt. Addie MacCallum, a district commander in Pictou County who assisted that night, also said he couldn't open the Pictometry program in RCMP headquarters in Bible Hill, where several of the incident supervisors were stationed in the early hours.
"I start trying to go and find Pictometry, which each detachment's supposed to have. I couldn't find it, and (Staff Sgt.) Al Carroll (the local district commander at the time) didn't know where it was .... We end up pulling a map off the wall. We put it on the table and start hand drawing on it," he said.
Like Rehill, he said it seemed there was only one road in and out of Portapique.
Tara Miller, a lawyer participating in the inquiry on behalf of a victim's family member, said in an interview last week that using the best programs in emergencies like the mass shooting should have been a normal process for incident commanders.
"Those were the critical moments to have been able to lock down Portapique and secure the containment," Miller said of the initial period when the killer was still in the rural, wooded area.
"If they have these resources, they should be able to access them in the critical moments when they're needed the most," she said.
Allan Ladouceur, district manager with Pictometry Canada Corp., a subsidiary of Eagleview Technology, said in an interview Tuesday the RCMP have access to online training resources as part of the licence permitting them to use the web-based program.
Staff Sgt. Steve Halliday, another supervisor of the RCMP response, has testified that when he came on duty, "there was a belief" the main road was the only way out.
He testified that it was only at about 4 a.m. or 4:30 a.m. on April 19, when he saw a better map, that he came to realize smaller roads might have allowed the killer to escape "by all-terrain vehicle or whatever," and he ordered the exits blocked by two Mounties.
Under cross-examination by Miller last week, Halliday said, "Pictometry certainly would have provided ... a more clear view, I think."
Rob Gordon, a criminology professor at Simon Fraser University, said in an interview last week that it's important for incident commanders to be well-trained in how to use mapping technology.
He said without good mapping, the commanders "won't be able to piece things together in a sensible way, unless they know the area really well."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Still so much love between us,' Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
What to know about avian influenza in dairy cows and the risk to humans
Why is H5N1, or bird flu, a concern, how does it spread, and is there a vaccine? Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about avian influenza.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
opinion The special relationship between King Charles and the Princess of Wales
Royal commentator Afua Hagan writes that when King Charles recently admitted Catherine to the Order of the Companions of Honour, it not only made history, but it reinforced the strong bond between the King and his beloved daughter-in-law.
Pro-plastic lobbyist presence at UN talks is 'troubling,' say advocates
Environmentalist groups are sounding the alarm about a steep increase in the number of pro-plastic lobbyists at the UN pollution talks taking place this week.
'Too young to have breast cancer': Rates among young Canadian women rising
Breast cancer rates are rising in Canada among women in their 20s, 30s and 40s, according to research by the University of Ottawa (uOttawa).
Charlie Woods, son of Tiger, shoots 81 in U.S. Open qualifier
Charlie Woods failed to advance in a U.S. Open local qualifying event Thursday, shooting a 9-over 81 at Legacy Golf & Tennis Club.
$70M Lotto Max winners kept prize a secret from family for 2 months
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Trump's lawyers grill ex-tabloid publisher as 1st week of hush money trial testimony nears a close
After prosecutors' lead witness painted a tawdry portrait of “catch-and-kill” tabloid schemes, defence lawyers in Donald Trump's criminal trial on Friday sought to dig into an account of the former publisher of the National Enquirer and his efforts to protect Trump from negative stories during the 2016 election.