RCMP equipment, guns stolen from east Regina garage: police

Regina police are asking for public assistance in an investigation into the theft of two firearms as well as numerous RCMP issued equipment and clothing, which took place over the weekend.

Sometime during the night of Aug. 27-28, a suspect or suspects broke in into a detached garage in the 3300 block of Green Moss Lane, according to a release from the Regina Police Service (RPS).

RPS said the suspects stole several items, including a Cabela’s gun locker containing a Remington 12-gauge shotgun and Remington SPS .308-calibre rifle, mobile air conditioner, tools, and a duty-bag with RCMP Public Order equipment and clothing.

Both firearms are personal, legally-owned rifles.

The duty bag included an RCMP rain poncho, coveralls, shoulder patches, two ball caps, weather pants, a green gas mask, and a riot helmet.

Chief Evan Bray said any time police equipment goes missing, it is something that is taken seriously.

“When a piece of uniform clothing goes missing, we’ve seen before in Canada that can be used for a bad purpose and we want to make sure that doesn’t happen, so there’s rigorous efforts obviously in this case,” said Bray.

He added that because it was an RCMP member, they are working with both the RCMP and RPS investigative units to investigate the theft as they would any other break and enter.

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He explained they will look for fingerprints, nearby surveillance video, and work with sources who may have been in the community to try and determine who committed the crime.

Homeowners discovered the break and enter around 10 a.m. on Sunday when they saw the garage door open.

While police mentioned the potential for these items to pose a threat to the public in the wrong hands in the news release, Bray doesn’t expect that to be the issue in this case.

“A break and enter occurred and a bag was stolen and a couple of other things that, unfortunately, has some of that sort of uniform clothing and other things in it,” Bray said.

When it comes to accountability, he said officers will have marked units, badges and radio systems.

“It’s typically very easy for the public to distinguish what a normal police officer would look like,” he said.

He added equipment like this doesn’t go missing very often, and he is hopeful the items will be recovered.

RPS continue their investigation and ask anyone with information to contact the Regina Police Service at 306-777-6500, or anonymously through Regina Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).