Management balks at protective gear for short-term members

Is one cop's life worth more than another's?

That's what Kativik Regional Police Force members are asking themselves these days. They say every member of the KRPF should receive bullet-proof vests, but police chief Luc Harvey has been balking at supplying the $600 vests to constables on short-term contracts.

A bullet-proof vest absorbs the impact from bullets fired towards the torso. The soft vests, widely worn by police throughout the world, are made from layers of tightly-woven fibres.

Over the past few years, KRPF members have been involved in many firearms-related incidents and in some where they were shot at. In 2005, a constable was shot by two armed youth while jogging in a Hudson Bay community.

KRPF deputy chief Jobie Epoo recently sent Harvey an e-mail, obtained by Nunatsiaq News, urging him to find a way to protect every man and woman in the police force.

In this June 27 email, Epoo told Harvey he had received requests from some four-month constables for the vests, which regular members had already received.

"I have told them it would be difficult for KRPF alone to assume the cost as some four-month contractors do not renew for a second contract," Epoo said in the email. "However, maybe there is a way to meet this request half way."

Epoo suggested that these temporary constables could pay half of the cost of the vest and that the force would reimburse them if they decided to stay longer with the KRPF.

"Maybe we could deduct their half over the period of four months to make it easier for them. Maybe you have a better suggestion. In any event, I think they should have a protection vest like the others," Epoo said.

Many KRPF members say the policy of handing out bullet-proof vests to some constables and nothing to others makes them feel worthless.

"We all think our lives mean nothing to them until we have attended training that they pay for. Then after paying all that money, they will buy us a bullet-proof vest to ensure that we stay alive long enough to finish our contracts," said a KRPF member, who said he needed to remain unidentified because he's been told not to speak to media.

Four-month contract employees with the KRPF are permitted to quit the force at any time. And regular members say the turnover of these short-term police is high.