Edmonton police to replace 'confidential' plane for $4.3 million
CBC
Edmonton police are set to get a $4.3-million plane to replace an aging police aircraft that most Edmontonians didn't know existed.
For nearly three decades, the airplane owned and operated by the Edmonton Police Service had only been discussed privately, behind closed doors.
All that changed last November at a city council committee meeting when Coun. Michael Janz asked about the plane. He said he heard about it by way of constituent complaints.
Not only was the plane's existence confirmed at the November meeting, but an EPS member said that the purchase of a new plane had been approved by the Edmonton police commission at a cost of $4.3 million.
Janz said a few days later, the police commission contacted the mayor's office to inform them that the plane was "confidential."
"They seemed to imply that I had broken confidentiality, to which the mayor thankfully defended me and said there's no way he could have known about it," Janz said. "The idea of a plane being confidential is just absurd to me."
An Edmonton police spokesperson told CBC News that the 1980 fixed-wing aircraft was purchased in 1993.
"Due to the covert nature of the aircraft, the EPS has only discussed this piece of operational equipment in private [closed meetings] with the Edmonton police commission and city council to ensure and maintain both public and officer safety," Cheryl Sheppard wrote in an email.
But a former member of city council said he had no idea Edmonton police had a plane until this week.
Allan Bolstad sat on council from 1992 to 2004, during the time the plane was purchased.
"I never heard anything about a plane," Bolstad told CBC News. "I'm sure it would have been a high-profile issue if it had been made public at that time."
Bolstad said in 1993, Premier Ralph Klein had taken office with a mandate to balance the budget. He recalled city staff layoffs and belt-tightening. Now he wonders why he didn't know about the plane during his time on city council and why it stayed secret for so long.
"I think it behooves council to look into this," Bolstad said. "To get a better description as to how they've been using it and what it's been doing.
"I think the police have got some explaining to do."
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