Nova Scotia law banning possession of police gear to take effect May 12

More than two years after a gunman dressed as an RCMP officer in a mock police cruiser killed 22 people and an unborn child in Nova Scotia, a provincial law banning citizens from owning police gear will take effect.

The province announced Friday that the Police Identity Management Act will be enforced as of May 12.

The act was first introduced in the provincial legislature in March 2021.

It’s already a federal crime to impersonate a police officer, but Nova Scotia’s Police Identity Management Act makes selling or possessing police-issued items, such as uniforms, badges, and patches illegal.

Only serving police officers or persons with police authorization will be permitted to have such items.

Anyone else, is being asked to surrender items to their local police department or render them unusable.

“You know, if you have a badge or anything, it actually has to be encased in acrylic,” says Minister of Justice and Nova Scotia Attorney General Brad Johns.

The law also prohibits the sale and possession of police-vehicle equipment, such as decals, police radios and computers, and lightbars.

Police agencies must also dispose of surplus gear.

“For, let’s say, pants,” says Halifax District RCMP spokesperson Cst. Guillaume Tremblay. “We could just cut them up, or the patches that we have on our shoulders, they could be cut up.”

“That’s the best way to dispose of them or render them unserviceable.”

Police departments must remove all equipment and markings from decommissioned police vehicles.

Ottawa suspended the sale of decommissioned RCMP vehicles in Canada in January 2021, a measure that remains in effect.

A lawyer representing many families affected by the N.S. mass shooting says the law is long-awaited.

“What really is meaningful is seeing some positive change,” says Sandra McCulloch. “So that the tragedies that they’ve suffered don’t come to nothing.”

The joint provincial-federal Mass Casualty Commission is set to address how the gunman accessed the police gear he used to replicate his fully-marked police car during public proceedings on April 25.

Nova Scotia’s legislation is the first of its kind that will be enacted in Canada and it’s unclear if other provinces will follow suit.

“They want to at least try to do something to prevent this sort of thing from happening,” says former OPP Commissioner and CTV Public Safety Analyst Chris Lewis.

But Lewis isn’t convinced the law is necessary or effective.

“The killer that night in Nova Scotia violated every law in the Criminal Code,” he says. “And this piece of provincial legislation is not going to deter people from doing bad things.”

But after the gunman easily purchased a number of surplus police items online, Premier Tim Houston says this is what Nova Scotians wanted.

“To make sure that when somebody is presenting themselves as law enforcement,” he says. “They have comfort to know that it is.”

According to the Act, the only places such gear can be used outside of law enforcement will be at museums or as part of a “dramatic work,” such as a film set.

The Nova Scotia RCMP says it will be among police agencies in the province that will investigate public complaints relating to the law.

Penalties include fines of up to $10,000 or three months in jail for individuals. A corporation could face a maximum fine of $25,000.