Off-duty Amherst police officer drove while impaired, had a loaded handgun: N.S. RCMP

A photo of the Amherst Police Department on July 3, 2024. (Alana Pickrell/CTV News)

An off-duty police officer with the Amherst Police Department has been charged with impaired driving and firearm offences following an incident at a restaurant in Oxford, N.S.

RCMP responded to a report of an intoxicated man at the restaurant around 7:45 p.m. Sunday.

When police arrived, officers learned the man, who RCMP says was showing signs of impairment, had driven to the restaurant.

Christopher Lamert Jobe, 42, of Warren, N.S., was arrested for impaired operation of a motor vehicle, according to an RCMP news release.

While searching Jobe, police say they found and seized a loaded handgun, which police confirmed was not a service weapon.

RCMP officers took Jobe to the Oxford RCMP detachment, where he provided breath samples that allegedly registered 260 mg per cent and 250 mg per cent.

Jobe has been charged with:

• careless use of a firearm
• possession of a prohibited firearm with ammunition
• carrying a concealed weapon
• unauthorized possession of a loaded firearm
• unauthorized possession of a firearm
• unauthorized possession of a prohibited weapon
• unauthorized possession in a motor vehicle
• possession of a firearm knowing its possession is unauthorized
• possession of ammunition knowing its possession is unauthorized
• operation while impaired
• operation of a conveyance 80 mg per cent or over

He was later released on an undertaking and is scheduled to appear in Amherst provincial court on April 14.

RCMP says the matter was referred to the Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT), which oversaw the investigation due to the fact Jobe is a police officer.

Jobe suspended from duties

The Amherst Police Department said in a statement Jobe has been “suspended indefinitely” from the department.

It also said Jobe has not been on active duty or at work for the “past several months.”

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