Representative image: an RCMP patrol car at Depot Division in Regina. Photo: Haydn Blackey via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
The RCMP’s update still runs under the heading “Leader RCMP investigating impersonation of police.” What it describes is an equipment ticket. Officers found the driver of the red SUV that ran blue and red lights behind a truck on Saskatchewan’s Highway 32 last week, wrote them a provincial ticket for “equipping a non-emergency vehicle with emergency equipment,” and seized two sets of imitation police lights the driver had with them.
That comes from an RCMP update posted Oct. 16, a day after the detachment asked the public to help find the SUV. The first release ran under the heading “Leader RCMP investigating impersonation of police.” The update keeps that heading and mentions no Criminal Code charge.
The original account is short. At about 9:15 p.m. on Oct. 13, a truck driver near Lancer saw emergency lights behind them and pulled onto the shoulder of Highway 32. The SUV, described as red with silver rims, stopped behind the truck. Nobody got out. The truck later drove away, and its driver never had contact with whoever was in the SUV.
RCMP said the SUV wasn’t connected to any police agency or unit working the area. Officers pulled surveillance video of it driving through nearby Abbey, recorded before the encounter on the highway. Police said they had no description of the occupants.
What the ticket covers
The offence wording matches Saskatchewan’s Vehicle Equipment Regulations, 1987. Section 5 says no vehicle other than an emergency vehicle “shall be equipped with an emergency light or a siren,” and the regulations define an emergency light as a red, blue or white beacon or flashing lamp. Section 7.1 separately bars civilian vehicles from carrying any marking, accessory or equipment reserved for emergency vehicles.
Personating a peace officer is a different offence, under section 130 of the Criminal Code. It covers anyone who falsely claims to be an officer, and anyone who isn’t one but uses a badge, uniform or equipment in a way “likely to cause persons to believe” they are. Prosecuted by indictment, it carries up to five years in prison.
The release doesn’t say whether a section 130 charge was considered or why the case ended with a provincial ticket. It does say investigators don’t believe the driver approached any other vehicles with the lights on, and nobody from the SUV ever walked up to the truck.
Also absent: the driver’s name, age and hometown, the ticket amount, the make and model of the SUV, and any explanation for stopping behind a stranger’s truck at night. A ticket is an allegation the driver can fight in traffic court, and the driver is presumed innocent.
Blue isn’t police-only here
Colour alone tells you less on Saskatchewan roads than it would in many places. The same regulations let police run red, blue, white or amber in any combination, require tow trucks to carry amber or amber-and-blue beacons, allow service vehicles and snowplows the same amber-and-blue setup, and permit red-and-blue on ambulances and fire apparatus. What a civilian SUV can’t have is any red, blue or white flashing lamp at all.
Checking who stopped you
The RCMP’s advice in the release is specific. You can ask an officer to show their badge and ID card. Both carry the same regimental number, and the card has a photo. If you still have doubts, call 310-RCMP when it’s safe to do so and ask the detachment to confirm who pulled you over.
What the release doesn’t cover is whether a driver may keep going, slowly and with hazards on, to a lit and populated spot before stopping. That’s the question most people would have on a rural highway after dark, and the RCMP left it unanswered here.
The two seized light sets are in RCMP hands, and the driver’s next step is to pay the ticket or dispute it. Tips about the case can still go to Leader RCMP at 310-RCMP or anonymously to Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Should flashing red and blue lights on a civilian vehicle be treated as a Criminal Code matter even when nobody gets out of the car, or is a provincial equipment ticket the right call?
Sources: Saskatchewan RCMP news releases of Oct. 15 and Oct. 16, 2026; The Vehicle Equipment Regulations, 1987 (Saskatchewan); Criminal Code of Canada, s. 130.
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