Mapping program Mounties struggled to open could have helped contain N.S. mass killer
Mapping program Mounties struggled to open could have helped contain N.S. mass killer
Mapping program Mounties struggled to open could have helped contain N.S. mass killer
HALIFAX -
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.
An Ontario community is reeling after a 23-month-old boy died when he was accidentally left in a hot car outside the school where his mother taught, the mayor says.
Canada will add 74 more people and businesses in Russia and Belarus to its sanctions list, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday as he met other G7 leaders in Germany to discuss the threat to global security posed by the invasion of Ukraine.
City of Ottawa staff and the Ottawa Police Service are ensuring residents that planned protests on Canada Day will not devolve into the kind of occupation that residents endured this past winter.
Russian long-range bombers fired a missile that struck a crowded shopping mall in Ukraine's central city of Kremenchuk on Monday, raising fears of what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an 'unimaginable' number of victims in 'one of the most disastrous terrorist attacks in European history.'
Organizers of a central Alberta rodeo and its parade committee are calling for calm after a float in this weekend's parade, which possessed a racist theme, was seen in the procession.
An Ontario community is reeling after a 23-month-old boy died when he was accidentally left in a hot car outside the school where his mother taught, the mayor says.
Organizers of a central Alberta rodeo and its parade committee are calling for calm after a float in this weekend's parade, which possessed a racist theme, was seen in the procession.
The Calgary Stampede announced on Monday that retired CTV News meteorologist David Spence will be serving as the celebrity judge for the 2022 Stampede Parade.
The federal government has signed an agreement with Quebec to provide $221 million in funding for long-term care homes in the province to address 'gaps in infection control' and staffing issues highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Montreal's mayor and a provincial opposition party leader are warning that the city's affordable housing shortage is going to get worse if more money isn't made available.
A public demand that Alberta stick with the RCMP has been signed by 32 towns, 22 villages, seven organizations, six counties, three summer villages, two other municipalities and The City of Wetaskiwin.
A Sherwood Park masseuse who was charged earlier this year after a girl reported being sexually assaulted during a massage appointment is facing additional charges after 13 more victims came forward.
An Ontario community is reeling after a 23-month-old boy died when he was accidentally left in a hot car outside the school where his mother taught, the mayor says.
OPP say an arrest warrant has been issued for a 20-year old Hamilton man after a man was shot late Friday night on Manitoulin Island and later died from his injuries.
Four London teenagers are facing charges Monday for their alleged involvement after a police officer was assaulted and knives and drugs were seized over the weekend, according to police.
J.W. McDonald Auto Service has had a few names over the years but it has always been able to provide vehicle service to Winnipeggers. But now, the Exchange District staple is gearing down and set to close its doors for good.
An Ontario community is reeling after a 23-month-old boy died when he was accidentally left in a hot car outside the school where his mother taught, the mayor says.
The city's director of rail operations pushed back against claims political pressure led to the LRT being launched before it was ready during the third week of testimony at the public inquiry into the problem-plagued system.
Holiday Park Golf Course turned 60 years old on Monday morning, and just like the day it first opened when Mayor Sid Buckwold took the first swing, Mayor Charlie Clark was on hand to tee off with a couple of shots.
The Sturrock brothers describe their cat Tigger – a two-year-old Bengal – as a "ferocious beast" who stares down and scares off even the largest neighbourhood dogs. But last week, the fearless feline took things to a whole new level.
Three people accused of mischief and break-and-enter in relation to an Abbotsford hog farm pleaded not guilty to all charges at the start of their jury trial on Monday.
A seven-year-old Regina boy is being treated for serious injuries after being struck by a vehicle at a bus stop in Regina on June 21, according to an online fundraiser.
A 28-year-old man on a bicycle was seriously injured Sunday evening after being hit by a pickup truck near the intersection of Garnet St. and Dewdney Ave., the Regina Police Service (RPS) said in a news release.
