Belleville Police requesting $100k to buy an armoured vehicle: analysis

Belleville Police are requesting funding to purchase an armoured vehicle. Does Belleville’s crime profile and the available alternatives justify this purchase and make it the best use of public funds?

The Belleville Police Service (BPS) are requesting funding for an armoured vehicle – likely a Cambli BlackWolf – for its Emergency Response Unit (ERU) in the 2026 Capital Budget – branding it a “Community Rescue Vehicle” (a term whose first known use found in Google was by Guelph Police Service).

With this acquisition, Belleville would become the second smallest municipality in Ontario we found to have purchased an armoured vehicle, giving them the same number as 7 of the 10 largest cities in Canada in 2020 (Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton had 2 vehicles).

BPS justification

The BPS has stated the vehicle is a “critical safety tool” needed to protect ERU members, citing rising high-risk deployments and firearms incidents.

The ERU is comprised of 12 members including the two members of the K9 Unit who are supervised by a Sergeant. Members respond to all high risk calls such as: search warrant executions, barricaded persons, weapons calls, as well as missing persons searches on top of their duties on front line patrol.

Rationale given in the budget:

ERU has been requesting an armoured community rescue vehicle for the past 8 years. Services across the province have this capability already and it has been proven invaluable. The amount of firearms incidents that ERU has been in involved in has increased dramatically over the last 5 years. Other services have also found it to be a great community outreach tool.

2026 BPS Capital Budget

In a statement provided to Quinte News published Oct. 3, 2025:

The Belleville Police Service’s Emergency Response Unit (ERU) handles high-risk operations, including tactical responses, barricaded persons, high-risk warrant executions, and search and rescue.

In 2024, the unit:

• Executed 31 high-risk warrants
• Responded to three barricaded persons
• Conducted two search and rescue operations
• Carried out 40 tactical deployments
• Seized seven firearms

Frontline officers have had to take cover behind trees, vehicles, or other obstacles when responding to dangerous calls.

The Community Rescue Vehicle (CRV) is a critical safety tool, supporting officers during high-risk operations and helping ensure the safety of both officers and the community.

Mid-year 2025 statistics show increases in firearm-related incidents, highlighting the growing need for specialized equipment to protect our officers and our community.

This is not a toy; it is a tool that allows the Belleville Police Service to safely manage dangerous situations and keep the community safe.

Quinte News

And in the community survey:

What kinds of situations do you believe this vehicle should be used for in our community? (Multiple choice)

• Emergency rescue
• High-risk calls where officer and public safety are at risk
• Community events and demonstrations
• Search and rescue in remote or rural areas
• Assisting neighbouring police services (e.g., Kingston Police Service, OPP, other regional partners) during major incidents

Community Survey

Cambli BlackWolf vehicle details

The Cambli BlackWolf is an armoured tactical vehicle based on Ford F-550 or F-600 made in Quebec by family-owned Cambli Group. It cost $500,000 in 2017 when purchased by Edmonton Police Service.

Technical specs

The Cambli Blackwolf design is based on 4×4 Ford F-550 truck chassis with the engine at the front, the crew in the middle and the troop’s compartment at the rear. The front of the crew cabin is fitted with two large windscreens offering good visibility over the frontal arc for the drive and the commander.

Rapid entry and exit for the crew is via two forward opening doors in each side of the hull. Each door has bulletproof windows with a firing port mounted in the lower part. The sides of the troop’s compartment are fitted with two bulletproof windows and firing ports.

The seating arrangement of the Cambli Blackwolf can be configured according to the user requirement but is typically two individual seats in the front and two benches in the rear, mounted along the hull of the vehicle and facing inwards.

There is a large door in the rear that opens to the right and has a bulletproof window and firing port. In option, the vehicle can be fitted with two doors. The internal layout of the troop’s compartment has been specially designed to offer large space and head clearance.

The hull and windows of the Blackwolf Cambi offer protection Level B7 against the firing of small arms from 7.62х51 (.308) up to 30.06 AP (Armor Piercing), Penetrator rounds as well as .50 caliber weapons.

The vehicle has a length of 6.24 m, a width of 2.43 m and a maximum height of 3 m. It has a GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating ) of 8,845 kg with a maximum payload of 1,360 kg.

Common Sense Edmonton, Army Recognition

Cambli suggests operations like police roadblocks, riot control and hostage taking

Opt for an agile mission vehicle for a wide range of tactical operations:

• Police intervention in urban areas – Lighter and offering better visibility than most armored patrol trucks, the BlackWolf is easy to maneuver on operations such as police roadblocks and riot control.
• Tactical and military operations – With its multimission profile and robustness, the BlackWolf is the ideal defender vehicle for peacekeeping, troop transport, and protection of territories and borders.
• Hostage taking – Hostage taking requires an agile, high-performance intervention vehicle. A versatile armored truck like the BlackWolf is perfect for proximity operations.
• Protection of nuclear power plants – Nuclear energy requires protection by competent and qualified personnel, equipped with a tactical vehicle equal to the challenges of their work. The powerful, agile BlackWolf offers all the features and options that power plants need to ensure the highest safety standards in their industry.
• Protection of dignitaries – Some dignitary protection missions entail significant defense challenges. For high-risk nationals, it is best to rely on a vehicle that is armored but light enough to be maneuverable. The BlackWolf is the only swat truck that meets both of these needs effectively.
• Private security – The BlackWolf is suitable for private security agencies that want to ensure the safety of their agents at major public and private events. It is the ideal security truck for crowd control.

Cambli

Regional alternatives: Kingston Police and OPP

Police Services Boards are required to ensure ‘adequate and effective’ policing

Belleville’s Police Services Board is the civilian oversight body and local board of Belleville that governs the municipality’s police service through its authority from the Community Safety and Policing Act (CSPA). They are required ensure that adequate and effective police services are provided.

Peterborough Police

Peterborough Police’s Emergency Response Team have their own light armoured vehicle, an OshKosh Sandcat. BPS could enter into a shared resource agreement with Peterborough Police to have it deployed when needed as has been done between York Regional and Durham Regional and Niagara and Hamilton.

Kingston Police

Kingston Police have their own armoured rescue vehicle (also a BlackWolf). BPS could enter into a shared resource agreement with Kingston Police.

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have 3 tactical teams available across the province

The Ontario Provincial Police’s (OPP) Tactics and Rescue Unit (TRU) are specialized, full-time teams deployed for high-risk situations and providing support to front-line police officers. They respond to high-risk calls in which violence or weapons are known or expected, including:

• Barricaded persons (suicides, domestic violence, etc.)
• K-9 back-up
• Prisoner escorts (where there is a high risk of escape or violence)
• High-risk warrant execution
• Witness protection
• VIP security
• Hostage rescue
• Sniper incidents
• Occurrences involving explosives

As of 2011 the OPP had 3 operational TRU teams available across Ontario based in strategic locations across the province to ensure rapid response times:

• East Lennox and Addington OPP Detachment Board in Odessa, Ontario (Eastern Region)
• Western Region – London, Ontario
• Central Region – Orillia, Ontario

OPP TRU teams are available for deployment to municipalities. For example, London borrowed the OPP’s armored vehicle in 2000 for an 11-hour standoff.

Community feedback

I live in Windsor now, and we have a tactical armoured vehicle. I’ve seen it in use on multiple occasions. What happens, every time, is this: they drive up, park down the street, and everyone goes in on foot. They surround the house, on foot. In full tactical gear, shields and all. On the rare occasion when they breach, they do it on foot.

It’s impressive to witness. Under no circumstances am I underscoring the danger they face in those situation. But I have never seen or heard of them using their armoured vehicle for anything other than delivering their armoured tactical teams (or whatever they’re called here) to the scene.

I’m all for funding things that make their jobs safer and easier. Body armour, riot shields, body cams, technology. But there has to be a demonstrated need for the equipment. There is simply no need for this particular equipment in Belleville.

zuuzuu on Reddit

Open Council analysis

Police officers have dangerous jobs and safety should always be a top priority. Equipment that demonstrably make their jobs safer like body armour, riot shields, body cams is well worthwhile and in many cases mandatory (ballistic vests are required by the Community Safety Policing Act (CSPA)).

The questions at hand are:

• What alternatives were considered?
• How many incidents has BPS responded to where having such a vehicle would have improved safety or changed the outcome?
• To what extent would it improve officer safety?

Response to each rationale given:

Rationale: Firearms incidents that ERU has been in involved in has increased dramatically over the last 5 years

The data to support this was statistic was not provided and could not be found online. The BPS 2024 Annual Report is the first annual report to provide Emergency Response Unit response statistics, but it does not include the data that BPS has to show the trend over the last 5 years:

In addition, a breakdown of these numbers by category would be helpful –

In the absence of those statistics, here are other measures to consider:

Belleville-Quinte West CMA had the 5th lowest rate of police-reported firearm-related violent crime in 2023 in Canada

In 2023, Belleville-Quinte West CMA (which includes Belleville, Quinte West, Stirling-Rawdon and Tyendinaga-Deseronto) had the 5th lowest rate of firearm-related violent crime in Canada at 15.5 firearm-related violent incidents per 100,000 people. This was according to Statistics Canada’s 2023 report of police-reported data on firearm-related violent crime, which includes incidents where a firearm was present during the commission of an offence and where police determined that the firearm was relevant to the crime, regardless of whether it was used.

The lowest rates were in Victoria (9), Guelph (11), Peterborough (12), Sherbrooke (14) and Belleville–Quinte West (16). The highest rates among CMAs were in Red Deer (80), Regina (79), Chilliwack (55), Winnipeg (54) and Saskatoon (53) in 2023.

Belleville-Quinte West’s average rate from 2013 to 2022 was 17.6 compared to Kingston (14.9), Toronto (36.4) and Canada (30.5).

For reference, the rate of incidents of police-reported firearm-related violent crime rate in Canada hit a low of 23.7 in 2013 and then generally trended upward hitting a high of 37.5 in 2022 before decreasing slightly to 36.9 in 2023.

Belleville’s Crime Severity Index is around the national average.

In 2023 Belleville’s Violent Crime Severity Index increased to 99.01, a level that, while higher than the previous two years, remains below the city’s 27-year median of 107.32.

Police must leave the vehicle to conduct a search warrant

During the execution of a search warrant by Windsor Police in 2023, police were transported to the scene in the vehicle, used it as cover for 1 hour upon arrival, then exited the vehicle to approach the building before arresting 3 suspects, seizing a shotgun and recovering a stolen vehicle:

Rationale: Requesting an armoured community rescue vehicle for the past 8 years

Requests to purchase an armoured vehicle have been denied for the past 8 years by either BPS or PSB as did not believe it was justified and this year an armoured vehicle was present at the Touch-a-Truck event prior to finalized purchase funding/approval. What changed?

Rationale: Services across the province have this capability already and it has been proven invaluable

• Which services? Invaluable in what way?
• How are Belleville’s ERU transported now?
• In the last 5 years, how many incidents in Belleville or neighbouring communities did BPS respond to where having such a vehicle would have improved safety or changed the outcome?

Rationale: Other services have also found it to be a great community outreach tool/events/demonstrations

• Which services?
• What were the results of the Community Survey about the vehicle posted to social media?
• What is the community-engagement evidence for ARV displays?

Rationale: Assisting neighbouring communities

BPS is responsible to ensure adequate and effective policing in Belleville:

Policing responsibility

The police service boards and the Commissioner shall ensure adequate and effective policing is provided in the area for which they have policing responsibility in accordance with the needs of the population in the area and having regard for the diversity of the population in the area.

Section 10 of the Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019

• Has BPS requested and/or received assistance from neighbouring Kingston Police or the OPP for an incident in Belleville?
• Has the BPS considered a shared resource agreement with Kingston Police to deploy their armoured rescue vehicle when needed?

Official contact information

The 100k in funding will be reviewed during the 2026 Capital Budget meeting on November 18, 2025.

• Belleville Police Services Board: [email protected]
  • Vice Chair Councillor Barbara Enright-Miller: [email protected]
  • Board member Mayor Neil Ellis: [email protected]