The Nova Scotia RCMP tactical team leader left the force in frustration six months after responding to mass shooting that began in Portapique, Nova Scotia. He told lawyers for public inquiry that the abuses committed by his boss were worse than the “warzone‘ abuse ’” his team faced in the April 2020 massacre.
I do not expect upper management to fight and oppress usentrusted Tim Mills. Especially when I gave my best.
On April 18 and 19, 2020, Tim Mills is the leader of a 13-year emergency response team that responds to high-risk situations throughout Nova Scotia except the Halifax metro area and Sydney area.
Work usually included going to crime scenes in the middle of the night. Team members were trained to deal with active shootings such as in 2014 that killed three constables and injured two others in Moncton. more, Tim Mills explained that they were in more frequent contact with armed men who needed to be restrained.
In Portapique, then in Glenholme, Debert, Shubenacadie and Enfield, they are faced with an unusual situation: the spread of carnage over a wide area and a relentless sniper between communities killing people at random.
As he chased the shooter toward Halifax, Tim Mills fell on the body of his slain colleague Constable Heidi Stevenson. He also learned from a witness that the shooter just fled aboard the SUV of another victim. Within half an hour, one of the tactical officers and a dog handler who was with him were shot and killed after he was identified at a gas station.
Moncton is serious, really serious and it’s ten times worse than Moncton. It is a place of war,Tim Millstactical team leader in shooting at Portapique.
Tim Mills Proud of how his team responded with the tools and resources they had. But he said he faced major challenges, including a lack of personnel, no air support at night and no technology to locate tactical team members in the dark subdivision where the violence took place.
He said that the management of RCMP never personally showed up in the days that followed and failed to keep promises to support his team’s mental health. He said part-time tactical officers only have a few days to decompress.
Lack of staff
When the call came to rush to Portapique on Saturday night in April, Tim Mills says his team is five shorted with only five full-time members and eight officers who worked part-time in addition to doing their general shifts.
So he decided to stay with the group to be another person in the field instead of conducting tactical operations and working with the critical incident commander and handling the response from the command position, as commanders usually do. team.
Another problem is technology. Tim Mills explained that his team has access to software that maps icons showing where members and their vehicles are positioned. They can enter an address so people can see where it is relative to their location.
This is awesomesaid the officer.
If you own a house, you know where your snipers are, and everything else.
The team started using this app after the shooting in Moncton, but the application is forgotten and not updated . Which means that on Portapique night they still have devices, but they’re no better than that clipboardtell a story Tim Mills.
There are no eyes in the sky
Another challenge is that the team does not have access to immediate air aid. The helicopter of RCMP in Moncton is down for maintenance, and according to Tim Mills this is a very common scenario.
Sadly I had no expectations because it seems like 80% of the time you call airline services and they have a reason not to go.he said. As well as say that they are also overloaded, they do not have the manpower to meet the needs.
He explained how the ability to find heat signatures from above helped Clinton Ellison, who called 911 while hiding in the woods after discovering his brother’s body. It would also have helped in finding the shooter’s wife, Lisa Banfield, who hid in the woods for several hours after fleeing the violence of his mistress.
The importance of air support is not a new idea. This was addressed with several recommendations coming from hunting in Moncton.
It was very important and it was recognized as very important then, recalls Agent Mills. He recounted how a helicopter made a big difference in 2020 when his team was called in to search for a fugitive in Bridgewater.
Frustrating management
In retrospect, Tim Mills he says he is very disappointed in the way of RCMP managed his team in the weeks and months after the shooting.
Part-time members of his emergency team had to return to their regular shifts over the weekend following the tragedy. Some of them went to see him and explained to him that they needed more time.
No one from management came to us, to say thank you, or you know, how are you? There is nothing and we are in the same buildingsaid Tim Mills.
Concerned about his team’s mental health, he asked his team to isolate and assign to office work.
Despite the request, Tim Mills found that part-time officers still had to report for their regular shifts a week after the hunt
In his opinion, this is what caused the illness of five members of the team. And it caused tension within the tight -knit team, as some members felt they would face the consequences if they did the same.
Tim Mills he says he filed an internal complaint about the treatment of his team that was not followed up for several months.
Throughout 2020, emergency response teams were called for 70 incidents, roughly double in previous years. Tim Mills believe this was partly due to additional caution and concern after Portapique. But he said it was not this work that reached him. He said that in the midst of the chaos he started having difficulty sleeping and this is it mentally exhaustingso he decided to retire.
I’ve responded to gun complaints, I’ve been to Moncton, shot people before, he confessed. But, he believes the treatment he received from senior management was worse than anything he had experienced in his years of service.
After an eight -month vacation, he officially left RCMP in July 2021 after 29 years.
Tim Mills now works for the Nova Scotia Department of Justice, and he declined an interview, but not before saying that he had always wanted to testify at public inquiry hearings.
With information from Elizabeth McMillan ng CBC
Source: Radio-Canada