Residents of communities policed by RCMP detachments may see more masked men and women with guns on their hips in coming weeks now that the force has started providing front-line employees with non-medical masks.
The decision to provide the masks was made after consideration of public health advice and is intended to provide officers and people they encounter with additional protection agains the possible transmission of COVID-19 in situations where personal protective equipment is not required but maintaining physical distancing may not be possible or practical.
Despite the fact that you can’t see their mouths and noses, these officers will still be able to establish their identity as bonafide police officers with their badges, name tags on their uniforms, RCMP photo identification and RCMP business cards with their detachment phone number on them.
"We want to make sure that the people in the communities we serve know they can ask to see police identification, if it is safe to do so,” said Manitoba RCMP media relations in a press release. “In most situations, the RCMP officer you are interacting with will be able to provide you with identification or information to verify that they are an RCMP officer.”