My father was an RCMP officer for 30 years.
He served with the honour and work ethic many associate with the national police officer and became an expert in his field.
I don't recall being concerned about him not coming home at the end of the work day because of an on-the-job incident, and I don't remember worrying that he wouldn't come back if a project took him outside of the area. There's a stereotype of police officers' kids that they are nervous about their parent(s) making it home safely at the end of the shift.
It wasn't because of a Superman perception of my dad. For whatever reason, I've always been aware of people's mortality and the frailty of the human body. My lack of anxiety wasn't because dad was a plainclothes officer for most of his career.
I just always had the expectation that he would make it home at the end of the day.
Last week's incident in Estevan served as a reminder to all of us about the risks that police officers face each day on the job, whether it be when on patrol, when they respond to a call or even when at the police station. The fact that it happened at the Estevan Police Service's building while processing a suspect is even more tragic.
Based on the information that we've received about the initial incident and the subsequent attack at the station, it doesn't take long to put some pieces together about what happened and for our imaginations to run wild.
The investigations – by the EPS, the RCMP and the provincial Serious Incident Response Team – will hopefully pinpoint what happened, provide necessary information and dispel some of the rumours that inevitably happen in these circumstances. They won't answer all of the questions, but they can answer some.
I've said before that we live in a pretty safe community. Incidents like these are certainly going to test that belief, at least in the short term. But before too long, we should feel safe again.
Our ranking on the federal crime severity index reflects that. We've typically been eighth or ninth for Saskatchewan cities in recent years. That will change when the 2023 numbers come out – a homicide and the shooting of an officer will change that – but hopefully, we'll be back to a more normal level in the future.
Yes, there are issues with drugs, addictions, thefts, mischief and impaired driving, among others, that force us to take precautions. But we're not the only ones with those issues.
What happened last week is a reminder that these incidents can happen anywhere, including here. They're very rare, and when they do happen, it's shocking. Hopefully, we never have to have something like this happen in Estevan again, and we never have to hear about SIRT being deployed to the southeast again.
Finally, this serves as a reminder of the challenges associated with mental health issues. We like to talk a lot about mental health support. We say we want to be a listening ear and be there for people going through these incredibly difficult circumstances.
But there is so much work to do. Yes, we need to keep investing in mental health. But we also have to remember that our understanding of the human mind remains very meager, that each case is unique and we'll likely always have to keep battling this issue.
Thankfully, it sounds like the officer will be able to recover, although there's always going to be the physical scar of being shot and the mental pain of what happened. It's going to be important to have the assistance available for as long as it's needed, whether it be weeks, months, the rest of the officer's career or even the rest of that person's life.
In the days since the incident occurred, there has been the outpouring of support for the EPS that one would expect. This reminder about the risks of being an officer hit too close to home for the community. Many of us know the officer who was wounded, and virtually all of us know several officers, if not more, who are involved with the EPS and the RCMP.
Hopefully, that support for the officers continues, because it is a dangerous, highly stressful job.
And hopefully, we get the answers to what happened last week, and measures will be taken to reduce the risk of this ever happening again.
