Meet the Calgary police’s newest recruit: an off-road utility vehicle called the ‘half pint’ | CBC News
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The Calgary Police Service is hoping to boost public safety and police visibility downtown with a new off-road utility vehicle called the CRT-99.
The side-by-side has CPS branding and police lights. Some officers call it the “half pint.”
The idea came along after Sgt. Kristian Thorpe with District 1’s Community Engagement Response Team and Encampment Team started looking around the urban environment and wondering, “how do we police in these nooks and crannies?”
He put together a business plan. It was approved, and police got the CRT-99 in February.
Thorpe is standing outside the East Village Safety Hub, a shared space for police, emergency responders and social agencies in the basement of the St. Louis Hotel. He points to a wider walkway between the hotel and the next building; there are cement planters, scooters, people walking and drinking coffee.
“You can walk around all that,” he said. “If you’re on a mountain bike, you can bike around all that. If you’re in a car, you can kind of drive by both ends, but you can’t really clear it as you’re going. Something like the off-highway vehicle enables us to get into those tighter spaces.”
The side-by-side can travel through urban parks and along the river pathway network — places that can be harder for a police vehicle to access.
“This just enables us to enhance that footprint a little further,” Thorpe said.
“The public really enjoys it too. It’s a lot easier to approach us because it’s slower moving, we’re usually getting out and doing things. And talking about perceptions of safety, what makes people feel safer is seeing police, being able to interact with police, having their voices heard — that’s another way that we can project that ideology.”
Its only drawback? The half-pint seats two up front; no back seat. That means no secure cage if someone is apprehended or needs transport. It means the officer driving has to call for backup if they need to make an arrest.
Right now, police only have one CRT-99, but if the pilot goes well, Thorpe hopes they’ll get more.
CPS declined to disclose the cost of the vehicle.
This article is part of a four-part series on the impact of crime and social disorder in Calgary. Read the full series and share your thoughts at cbc.ca/yycsafety.