Police Services in Nova Scotia

Last updated December 12, 2005

© 2005, MARITIMES SCANNING SITE, all rights reserved

Policing in Nova Scotia is made up principally of municipal police forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  While the RCMP has responsibility for enforcement of many federal laws, it also acts as the local police force in all the rural areas outside organized municipalities (under a contract with the provincial government) and in many towns and in two regional municipalities (under local contracts).    Because of this the distinction between the municipal forces and the RCMP is somewhat blurred.   In fact, in the Halifax Regional Municipality, the RCMP and the municipal force are integrated for many purposes  and working together to a degree unprecedented in Canada.   For this reason, there are separate pages for the RCMP outside HRM,, for municipal police forces in general (and other quasi-police services) and a separate one for the Halifax Regional Municipality.

There are other law enforcement agencies operating within Nova Scotia, including the security and enforcement branches of Canada Custom, Canada Post, the Canadian Coast Guard, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Military Police, the provincial Department of Natural Resources, Vehicle Compliance, and Motor Carrier inspection.   There are undoubtedly others.   There is also the Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission "police", and the police service operated by CN Rail.

HRM Police, Truro Police, the Military Police, and the RCMP operate exclusively on the NS Trunked Mobile Radio System and therefore share frequencies with a multitude of other users.  For frequency information please go to my NSTMR pages, accessed from the opening page of the site.  Other police forces use VHF communications, except that each has a talkgroup on the NSTMR which may be used for liaison with the RCMP or other forces.