Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

HANDGUN CONVERSION BARREL W/ CASE, “SIMUNITION”

Date Range From

1999

Date Range To

2009

Materials

STEEL, CARDBOARD, FOAM

No. Pieces

5

Height

3.25

Length

19

Width

9.25

Description

.A – RECTANGULAR CARDBOARD LID, PRINTED IN BLACK, WHITE AND RED. TEXT ALONG THE TOP READS “SIMUNITION – DIVISION OF SNC INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGIES INC. – CONVERSION KIT S&W 594X SERIE – FOR USE IN MILITARY/LAW ENFORCEMENT – TRAINING UNDER DIRECTION OF QUALIFIED INSTRUCTOR – CQT FX”. “UBJ 9746” IS WRITTEN ON TOP IN BLACK PEN. EDGES OF LID HAVE MINOR WEAR. OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION. 3.25 X 19 X 9.25 .B – RECTUANGULAR SHEET OF GREY FOAM, WITH SEMI-CIRCLE SHAPE CUT INTO ONE LONG EDGE. OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION. 1 X 18 X 8.5 .C – HOLLOW STEEL CYLINDER, TAPERED AT ONE END WITH A MOLDED TRIANGULAR SHAPE AT THE OPPOSITE END. STAMPED WITH TEXT READING “S&W 594X SNCSC 0392-06 – WARNING: FX AND CQT AMMO ONLY – NO STD AMMO”. MINOR OXIDATION ON STEEL; OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION. 2 X 11.5 X 2.25 .D – RECTANGULAR CARDBOARD BOX BASE WITH FOAM-LINED INSIDE. FOAM HAS RECESSED CAVITY RESEMBLING THE IRREGULAR SHAPE OF .C. OUTSIDE OF BOX IS WORN ALONG BOTTOM AND HAS BROWN STAIN ON ONE SIDE. OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION. 3.5 X 18.5 X 9

Subjects

ARMAMENT-ACCESSORY

Historical Association

SAFETY SERVICES

History

THIS SIMUNITION BARREL CONVERSION KIT WAS USED BY THE LETHBRIDGE REGIONAL POLICE TACTICAL UNIT DURING TRAINING PROCEDURES. SERGEANT GEORGE CARSCADDEN, WHO SERVED WITH THE LETHBRIDGE REGIONAL POLICE TACTICAL UNIT FROM 1999 TO 2012, DESCRIBED THE USE OF THIS BARREL CONVERTER AS SUCH: “THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN BOUGHT FOR THE TEAM EARLIER ON WHEN THEY HAD SMITH AND WESSON [PISTOLS]… [SIMUNITION IS] A PAINT PELLET ROUND, BUT SMALLER, AND FITS INTO YOUR PISTOL AND OPERATES SIMILAR LIKE A BULLET WOULD. IT MAKES A SOUND, AND EJECTS THE ROUND, AND FIRES A PAINT PELLET PROJECTILE [THAT] LEAVES A RED OR BLUE MARKING ON THE INDIVIDUAL TO INDICATE WHERE YOU WERE HIT. THAT WAY IT MAKES IT MORE REALISTIC WHEN DEALING WITH DIFFERENT TYPES OF SCENARIOS FOR THE OFFICERS AND FOR THE BAD GUYS [KNOWN AS QUARRY IN TRAINING PROCEDURES]. AS WE GOT MORE OF THESE [SIMUNITION CONVERTERS], WE WOULD THEN GIVE SIMUNITION TO THE BAD GUYS. AT THE BEGINNING, IT WAS US, THE TACTICAL TEAM OPERATORS, THAT WOULD HAVE THEM, AND THE QUARRIES WOULD NOT… IT WAS GOOD FOR [QUARRIES] TO HAVE IT, BECAUSE IT SHOWS THAT THE OFFICER MAY HAVE… TO GET OUT OF THE WAY AS WELL, SO IT IS REALLY GOOD ADVANCED TRAINING FOR TEACHING [OFFICERS] HIGHER LEVEL SKILL… A PERSON [WHO IS] RUNNING AROUND, OR MOVING, TO BE ABLE TO SHOOT THEM – THIS SHOWS THAT IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO DO THAT. IT’S A GREAT ADVANCEMENT IN TRAINING.” ON JULY 28, 2015 COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED SGT. CARSCADDEN ABOUT HIS SERVICE WITH THE LRPS TACTICAL UNIT. CARSCADDEN SAID: “FIRST OF ALL, I JUST WENT AS A QUARRY… ALL DIFFERENT SPECIALTY UNITS THAT HAVE SOME KIND OF TACTICAL SCENARIO LIKE TO HAVE QUARRIES TO [HELP TRAIN THEM] TO DO THEIR JOB BETTER, SO I THOUGHT ‘I’LL GO WORK AS A QUARRY TO SHOW THEM I’M INTERESTED’. A QUARRY IS GENERALLY A BAD GUY – YOU PRETEND YOU’RE HIDING, OR MOVING OR YELLING OR RUNNING AWAY AND TRYING TO EVADE THEM, AND THEY ARE TRYING TO CAPTURE YOU… IT TOOK A COUPLE OF YEARS, BUT I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH… IN THE MOVEMENT OF THE TEAM THAT THERE WERE [POSITIONS OPEN]… THERE IS A PHYSICAL, AND INTERVIEW, SOME TESTS… I WENT THROUGH AND STUDIED, AND DID THE BEST THAT I COULD… MAKING SURE YOU ARE IN GOOD PHYSICAL SHAPE BECAUSE YOU ARE CARRYING AN EXTRA 50 POUNDS OF GEAR… THAT’S JUST THE GEAR THAT YOU ARE CARRYING ON YOURSELF, NOT A RAM OR DIFFERENT TYPE OF EQUIPMENT THAT YOU MIGHT BE MOVING INTO PLACE FOR DIFFERENT TACTICS… I WAS AROUND 35 [YEARS OLD]. I WAS AN OLDER GUY APPLYING FOR THIS POSITION, BUT I WAS IN GOOD SHAPE AND HAD SOME GOOD EXPERIENCES THAT MADE ME COMPETITIVE, SO I DON’T THINK YOUR AGE TAKES YOU OUT OF THE EQUATION IF YOU ARE REALLY DETERMINED.” CARSCADDEN CONTINUED: “I’VE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE IN A LOT OF DIFFERENT POSITIONS WITHIN [THE TACTICAL] UNIT… I STARTED OFF AS AN ASSAULTER… THE PERSON WHO CARRIES ALL THE GEAR, SO YOU’RE IN THE BACK… THE LAST PERSON THAT COMES IN. IT’S A GOOD POSITION TO START OFF WITH. IT MAKES IT SAFER FOR WHEN YOU’RE GOING INTO THESE HIGH-RISK ENVIRONMENTS… FROM THERE I WAS GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE OBSERVER, THEN A SNIPER, THEN FROM THERE… A BREECHER. SO YOU ARE BREECHING DOORS AND WINDOWS. [THEN] I WENT TO THE FRONT OF THE TACTICAL LINE-UP, WHICH IS THE SCOUT… THEN THE LAST SIX YEARS THAT I WAS ON THE TACTICAL TEAM, I WAS THE PERSON IN CHARGE, THE TEAM LEADER… AND I WAS RUNNING OPERATIONS IN CONJUNCTION WITH OUR CANINE UNIT AND OUR EXPLOSIVES DISPOSAL UNIT… THE TRAINING IS REALLY GOOD. [THE TEAM] TRAINS EVERY TWO WEEKS, AND DO LOTS OF MOVEMENTS AND SHOOTING AND TACTICS. IT’S A PERISHABLE SKILL, THAT IF YOU DON’T REPEAT AND PRACTICE IT ALL THE TIME, IT DIMINISHES… PRACTICE IS IMPORTANT. IT ALLOWS YOU TO BE BETTER AT YOUR GAME... YOU NEED TO HAVE A MINDSET [OF] BEING NOT ONLY PHYSICALLY TOUGH, BUT MENTALLY TOUGH, WHEN YOU DEAL WITH THINGS IN A HIGH-RISK ENVIRONMENT… YOU’VE GOT TO HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF DRIVE TO GET YOU THROUGH THINGS.” CARSCADDEN CONCLUDED: “ONE OF THE THINGS I’M PROUD OF ON THE TACTICAL SIDE IS THAT I WAS THE OFFICER WHO WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN BRINGING LESS LETHAL CAPABILITY TO THE TEAM… [WE] MAKE THE DIFFERENCE IN SAVING SOMEBODY’S LIFE. WE HELP THEM THROUGH THAT TIME OF NEED… WE HAVE ESTABLISHED WHERE, IN THE PAST IF THAT PERSON COULD HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN SHOT AND INJURED, IF NOT FATALLY SHOT, THAT PERSON NOW CAN BE DEALT WITH A LESS LETHAL MEANS… WE ARE ABLE TO RESTRAIN, ARREST, WITH THESE LESS LETHAL CAPABILITIES. THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE FOR THEM… THE EXPERIENCES THAT I HAD IN PEEL [SHOWED ME LESS LETHAL CAPABILITIES] IN OPERATION AND HOW IT WORKED… THEY WERE ONE OF THE FIRST SERVICES IN CANADA TO HAVE THE RUBBER BULLET… WHEN YOU’RE LOOKING AT DIFFERENT TACTICS AND HOW YOU CAN DO IT BETTER, THAT WAS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I RECOGNIZED, THAT [LETHBRIDGE] COULD BRING THIS ON. IT WOULD BE BETTER FOR OUR TEAM AND OUR COMMUNITY: AS OPPOSED TO SHOOTING SOMEBODY AND STOPPING THEM THAT WAY, WE COULD USE THE [RUBBER BULLET] OR BEANBAG ROUND AND THAT WOULD BE ABLE TO HELP STOP THESE PEOPLE [BUT] SAVE THEIR LIVES… IT REALLY OPENS PEOPLE’S EYES WHEN THEY SEE THAT THERE’S A LOT OF OTHER RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO PUT IN PLACE FOR DIFFERENT TACTICS. AND WHEN PEOPLE SEE THERE’S ANOTHER WAY OF DOING BUSINESS, IT’S HELPFUL FOR US TO PROGRESS AND PUSH FORWARD… THESE PIECES OF EQUIPMENT ARE HERE TO ALLOW US TO KEEP THINGS CONTROLLED AND TO MAKE US DO OUR JOB BETTER… I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE INVOLVED WITH A VERY SPECIALIZED UNIT AND I’M VERY PROUD OF IT.” SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT.

Catalogue Number

P20100050004

Acquisition Date

2010-05

Collection

Museum

Less detail