CFB Kingston conducts joint emergency response exercise

Residents in the area of the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) may have noticed an increase in military and civilian police traffic in the vicinity on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021.

2 Military Police Regiment Detachment Kingston, CFB Kingston, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Kingston Police, and Kingston Fire and Rescue conducted a multi-jurisdictional emergency services training exercise called Exercise WATCHDOG RESPONSE, according to a release from CFB Kingston. The exercise tests the interoperability of several emergency services in Kingston under the context of a multi-jurisdictional scenario.

The exercise involved tactical response to a dynamic threat at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC). According to the release, the training had an RMCP boat unit attempt to intercept a suspicious vessel in Lake Ontario. The vessel fled and was apprehended in Navy Bay, but one suspect fled into the Royal Military College. This lead to responses from the Military Police and other local emergency services. The exercise concluded with the suspect being apprehended.

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“Exercises like this are critical in building relationships with other local partners. We need to ensure that we can achieve a high level of interoperability in the event of a major incident,” said Col Masson, CFB Kingston Base Commander.

This is the third iteration of this type of exercise on CFB Kingston, according to the release. The first iteration occurred in August 2019 where Kingston-area law enforcement agencies including the military police responded to multiple shootings, a hostage-taking and a bomb threat at the military base’s medical clinic. The second iteration occurred in March 2021 where the military police and Ontario Provincial Police responded to an active shooter scenario.