Only in Canada: Ontario Provincial Police patrol boat torched in harbour

torontosun

An OPP patrol boat was torched early Wednesday morning in Port Stanley, Ont., harbour. (OPP Handout Photo)

LONDON, Ont. — For some culprits stealing a police patrol boat wasn’t good enough, they had to light it on fire to finish the job.

The Ontario Provincial Police in Elgin County lost their only patrol boat Wednesday after the 24-foot vessel was taken from Stan’s Marina, driven about one kilometre out into the harbour and torched.

“It’s completely destroyed,” Elgin OPP Const. Troy Carlson said.

The cost of replacing the Sea Swirl police boat is pegged at $85,000.

The boat was the only one available for marine rescue operations along a 70-kilometre stretch of the Lake Erie shoreline.

Carlson said auxiliary Coast Guard units are normally based in Port Stanley and Port Burwell, but this isn’t the case this year, leaving the Elgin OPP boat responsible for all marine emergencies and searches in the area.

“This is a senseless act which risks the safety of the public,” Carlson said.

(KATEY BERZINS/SPECIAL TO QMI AGENCY)