Neck guard sales jump after Sask. hockey player slashed by skate
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More adult players are now investing in the protective equipment.
Saskatchewan’s new Provincial Protective Services Branch is up and running.
The branch — the creation of which was announced in the March 23 budget — brings conservation officers, highway patrol officers, Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods officers, prisoner transport and court security deputy sheriffs and Wascana Park community safety officers under a single organizational structure.
The branch will comprise about 450 employees. It launched Friday.
“A tremendous amount of work has gone into unifying these separate agencies into a single organization over the last six months,” Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Minister Christine Tell said in a media release.
“The transition to the PPS Branch is a major step forward in our ongoing work to ensure the safety and security of Saskatchewan communities and people.”
Things won’t change for the organizations: They won’t get new logos or uniforms and they won’t take on different roles.
“In the long term, the transition to a unified structure will also relieve RCMP officers of their prisoner transport responsibilities,” the government said in its release.
“These duties will be fully transferred to provincial prisoner transport and court security deputy sheriffs in the PPS Branch, which will allow the RCMP to focus on their core policing mandate.”