Police Services in Nova Scotia

If the term "police" is taken broadly to include all law enforcement bodies, the landscape in Nova Scotia includes many different agencies. Except as noted in the chart below these agencies principally use the Nova Scotia Trunked Radio System.

The detailing of the organization and frequency usage of agencies using the NS TMR is outside the current self-imposed mandate of this website. For more information re talk groups go to www.Scanmaritimes.ca or to www.radioreference.com

There are a dwindling number of town and regional police departments remaining in Nova Scotia. The decrease is due to amalgamations and to a trend to hiring the RCMP to take over municipal duties. In many cases, but not all, the members of the former town forces are offered employment in the RCMP, so that the personnel do not completely change, however the communications frequencies and systems do change over to regular RCMP standards.

Nova Scotia has an obsolescent VHF repeater network that served all government departments, and which has since 2000 been progressively replaced by a newer 800 MHz trunk system, which is now used by the Halifax Police and by the RCMP. One component of the old VHF system was a common police frequency (153.59 MHz) that was available at several of the repeater sites and is still known to be active in the Annapolis Valley and New Glasgow area and possibly in other areas. This repeater system not only allowed separate departments in any one area to intercommunicate, but also allowed communications around the province. The long distance communications component no longer exists, and today if and where these repeaters still exist they can be considered stand-alone tools.

The largest remaining municipal force outside Halifax is the Cape Breton Regional Police Service. This is an amalgamation of a number of individual town and city forces dating from 1995. It took in all the former town police departments such as Sydney, North Sydney, Sydney Mines, New Waterford and Glace Bay . In 2000, the Cape Breton Regional Municipality completed controversial contract discussions which led to the takeover by the Regional Police of responsibility in the rural areas outside of the former town and city areas. This takeover resulted in the closing of a number of RCMP detachments. Click here for the CBRPS site.

All municipal forces listed here also have liaison talk groups on the NS TMR so that their local dispatch centre can communicate with the RCMP and with other departments. |in some cases or at some times, the VHF dispatch frequency might actually be simulcast on the liaison talk group. For information on the liaison talk groups check ScanMaritimes or RadioReference. Information below is principally about the VHF frequencies in use.

Department	Repeater Output Frequency (or Simplex) or TMR t.g.	Input Frequency	Tone	Notes
CBRP Central	153.9350	154.890	100.0
CBRP North	154.0100	159.300	192.8
CBRP East 1	155.1900	154.620	173.8
CBRP East 2	158.7300	152.105	123.0
CBRP Louisbourg	155.2500	164.100	118.8
CBRP Ben Eoin IMRS repeater	152.3600	157.440	136.5
CBRP Kempt Head	173.0700	168.060	??
CBRP Morley Road	172.3200	167.400	??
CBRP Tactical	166.5600	169.260	107.2
New Glasgow area police departments	153.5900	155.100	100.0	Channel 2. "Four Towns Channel" This is a former Municipal Police Network repeater used for interdepartmental communications. It is reported that it is currently used as a pursuit channel, i.e. for a vehicle chase that could cross town boundaries and requires coordination.
New Glasgow area police departments	159.3300 Sx	--	??	Integrated Emergency Response Team
New Glasgow area police departments	TMR 57056			Integrated Street Crime Unit. This talk group is reported to be digital encrypted.
New Glasgow Police Department	154.8300	159.225	103.5
Stellarton Police Department and Westville Police Dept. (shared)	153.8900	155.220	77.0
Trenton Police Department	154.6200	158.40	91.5	As of early 2011 this department is merged into the New Glasgow Police Dept., with as yet unknown frequency consequences.
Truro Police Department	TMR 17824			Truro PD formerly operated on 159.15 (155.49) CSQ, but operations now are entirely on the NS Trunk. As of 2010 the old repeater was still operational; however it may have been transferred to the fire department as a backup to its 155.61 frequency. Information is requested regarding any current use of 159.15
Amherst Police Department	151.3550	154.310	100.0	This department now utilizes Mototrbo, and cannot be monitored on any current scanner. For information on Mototrbo click here.
Springhill Police Department	158.7300	???	???	Like Amherst, this department uses Mototrbo.
Kentville Police Department	162.795 and simulcast on TMR 34192	167.775	114.8	This frequency has replaced or supplemented the previous 154.89 (155.34) CTCSS 114.8 as of 2010. The department is also able to use the Town Works repeater: 169.125 (172.02) CTCSS 114.8
Annapolis Royal Police Department	153.5900	155.100	136.8	(former Municipal Police Network repeater) Also uses simplex 158.805 and 159.42 CSQ
Bridgewater Police Department	159.0900	154.680	146.2	BPD radios are also reported to include the following channels: 154.16 (159.45 input) the former Lunenburg Town Police frequency, as well as former local area RCMP VHF frequencies whose repeaters are now thought to be gone. 110.9

Royal Canadian Mounted Police	This is the federal policing agency in general, plus they are the provincial police force for Nova Scotia (under contract) and as well the municipal police force in many towns of Nova Scotia (under local contract). Provincial and municipal RCMP policing is divided into 3 districts: Southwest Nova, Halifax, and Northeast Nova. Each of these districts is headed by a Superintendent, and is subdivided ito detachments. Most detachments extend over complete counties or municipalities. In Halifax Regional Municipality responsibilities are shared geographically with the Halifax Regional Police service (see below). The RCMP also currently provides policing under contract to most First Nations communities in Nova Scotia.. The RCMP has a multitude of units with various duties. Most front line units are either general duty detachments organized along county lines, that may also have sub-offices, OR they are special duty traffic services units that primarily monitor traffic along the provincial highways. There are also many plain clothes departments dealing with federal acts and regulations or with criminal investigations in general. The RCMP operates on the 800 MHz TMR. with most areas being dispatched from Truro. It is possible that some special events might utilize the nationally allocated 420 MHz RCMP frequencies. For more information on NS RCMP click here
Municipal Police Forces	Regional Municipalities, cities and towns are obligated to provide their own policing; however this may be contracted out to an outside agency such as the RCMP or another municipality. Municipalities that currently maintain their own police force rather than contracting out are: Halifax Regional Municipality (see note above), Cape Breton Regional Municipality, and the towns of Bridgewater, Truro, Kentville, Annapolis Royal, Springhill, Amherst, Westville, Stellarton, Trenton and New Glasgow. Currently there are proposals and/or agreements in progress that may or will change this list of towns. HRM and Truro operate on the 800 MHz NS TMR. The other municipal police forces utilize VHF, as described below. Note that any town police force may enter into a contract to police another town or a First Nations community. CBRP does police one such First Nations community under contract.
*Special re Halifax Regional Municipality*	HRM is unique in Canada in that it is policed by two different forces or departments. The area comprising the former cities of Dartmouth and Halifax, and the former town of Bedford are covered by the Halifax Regional Police. So is the Sambro loop area of the former County of Halifax. The remainder of the former County is covered by the Halifax District of the RCMP. While their patrol officers in uniforms and marked vehicles operate in these separate areas, their support and criminal investigation arms are closely integrated. The HRP operates on the TMR (digital, with some encrypted), and within HRM the RCMP patrol components are integrated into the same talkgroups, and dispatched by the same dispatchers. The RCMP outside HRM, and those members in federal policing roles are dispatched by the RCMP central dispatch in Truro. While the HRM dispatch services are integrated, the organization remains somewhat different. HRP patrols are organized by not only by large zones (East, West, Central) but also by smaller sub-zones that are numbered. Personnel and cars are assigned to a sub-zone and while they certainly can and do assist outside the sub-zone, their routine patrols are within the sub-zone. On-air they are identified by sub-zone, not by actual car number. For example Central 1 Alpha. This is a Central Zone car, patrolling sub-zone 1. There might be a Bravo and Charlie car as well. These are simply additional vehicles in the same sub-zone assigned as needed. The zone commander is identified as 10. The RCMP district is divided into 6 zones or detachment areas: Tantallon, Lower Sackville, Cole Harbour, Musquodoboit Harbour, Sheet Harbour and North Central. The first three are mostly suburban in nature and have many vehicles whereas the latter three are rural and smaller. While the 6 detachment areas are technically divided into sub-zones much like the HRP areas, the members to a greater extent patrol their whole areas. The result of this is that the central dispatch in bringing an incident to the attention of HRP members will more or less assign the call to a specific car, whereas for the RCMP areas they will inform for example "Cole Harbour members" and one or more will take on the assignment. The RCMP identifies by car numbers, not by sub-zone area. Cars are numbered according to the area they are normally assigned to (however they can be moved around for specific incidents or for longer periods of time). HA plus zero plus a digit = Airport (might be only one vehicle HA01) LS plus numbers from approximately 15 to 29 = Sackville CH plus numbers in 30's as well as at least one in the low 50's = Cole Harbour TA plus numbers in the 40's = Tantallon MH plus numbers in the 60's = Musquodoboit Hbr (this office seems to have around 6 or 7 vehicles) SH plus numbers in the 70's = Sheet Harbour (has approximately 3 vehicles) NC plus numbers in the 80's = North Central (has approximately 2 vehicles In addition the supervisory vehicles operated by senior NCO's that can and do move between various areas of the Halifax District RCMP area area are identified by the prefix HX. It is thought that these identifications relate to the member involved, rather than the vehicle. HX01 is the Watch Commander, but numbers as high as 07 have been reported.
Military Police	The military police provide policing services on bases, including married quarters, and as well during deployments. There are dedicated regular force MP units at Halifax and Greenwood, and as well a reserve unit based in Lower Sackville that operates most commonly in conjunction with army reserve exercises and provides personnel for overseas deployments. Military police for the two bases operate on the TMR, and are generally encrypted. The reserve unit is thought to be closely aligned with army operations and therefore would be likely on army field frequencies, such as on low band VHF.
NS Vehicle Compliance	This service deals with the safety and weighing of transport trucks. Weigh scales may be heard on the radio but principally it will be the inspectors in their grey pickup trucks and cruisers that you will see and hear. These vehicles, like other law enforcement vehicles, have red and blue lights. These inspectors are not armed. TMR analogue.
Motor Carrier Inspectors	These officers inspect busses throughout the province. They can be seen driving vehicles that are white with red and blue markings. They have red and blue lights and sirens, however it is thought that the lights are not the roof type. Officers are unarmed. TMR analogue.
Canada Border Services Agency	This agency, formerly referred to as "Customs" has become increasingly active and visible in recent years in response to serious incidents of smuggling of goods and people. The personnel are uniformed and operate a variety of vehicles that may be unmarked but do in some cases have red and blue lights. Some CBSA officers are armed. TMR, some regular digital, some encrypted.
DNR Conservation Officers	Formerly known as game wardens or wildlife officers, this subdivision of the Department of Natural Resources deals primarily with the regulation of hunting and firearms in the province. The armed and uniformed officers drive pickup trucks painted dark green with yellow trim and lettering. As with other agencies, they have red and blue lights. While they would have access to the regular DNR TMR talk groups they normally operate on special enforcement tg's which generally will be encrypted.
DFO	Fisheries Protection Officers regulate the federal aspects of marine and freshwater fisheries. A variety of vehicles, marked and unmarked are used, as well as vessels. FPO's carry arms. DFO uses a combination of Marine VHF, the TMR and associated 800 MHz conventional repeaters, and as well long range marine SSB radios. It is thought that their TMR communications are mostly encrypted.
Parks Canada	Park Wardens are the law enforcement agency inside the national parks of Nova Scotia. More information is needed on the radio usage of the wardens; however it is thought that Cape Breton Highlands, at least, is dispatched from elsewhere in Canada. Wardens normally drive green trucks with red and blue lights. Some (or perhaps all in our region) wardens carry side arms. It is unclear what radio systems are used. Kejimkujik may at least partly use the TMR. The historical sites in the Halifax area may still use frequencies in the area of 165 MHz. Cape Breton Highlands may continue to use frequencies in the 140's.
CN Police	Like other federally-chartered railways CN is entitled or perhaps obligated to provide its own policing. The CN Police has a minimal presence in Nova Scotia with one or two vehicles, most likely based in Moncton. A cruiser has been seen in the Halifax area, as well as a Ford Explorer in Northwestern N.S. CN Police can, in theory, be heard on the VHF Railway Band (see the separate page on Listening to Railways in the Maritimes) but it is also thought that in the Halifax area they are dispatched by the HRM dispatch centre. RR frequencies to watch are: 161.235 paired with 160.575
Canadian Wildlife Service	This agency of the federal Dept of the Environment is tasked with, among other things, enforcing the migratory birds regulations. Many of the employees are scientists but some are enforcement officers that do carry firearms at least on occasion. Here is a link to one of their official pages. Radio information unknown.
Halifax Bridge Police	As of 2010 the vehicles of this service are marked "Bridge Patrol" rather than "Bridge Police". The commissionaires that patrol the bridges and as well man the toll booths do have special constable status, with the ability to charge drivers for offences committed on the property; however they do call upon the HRM Police on many occasions. This service operates on 152.36 MHz.
NS Department of Justice Sheriffs Department	As in other parts of Canada, Sheriffs are court officers charged with the transportation of prisoners and their supervision while in court. Most sheriff vehicles in Nova Scotia are panel vans used for transportation, however there is at least one sedan looking much like a police cruiser minus the lights. Sheriffs operate on the TMR.
Other agencies	At one time there was a postal security service. It is not known if this still exists. Information on this or any other law enforcement agencies should be sent to marscan1 AT canada.com.

Repeater Output Frequency (or Simplex) or TMR t.g.