Dear editor,
I am writing from Strategic Enforcement, an Alberta-based law enforcement training and consultation private business. We specialize in vehicle-based law enforcement training, however, we also have safety of law enforcement officers on the forefront of our business and wear that on our sleeves with passion.
We read your articles not only with great interest but also with great disappointment and frustration. We do thank you, however, for producing the articles and bringing this very serious topic to the eyes and minds of the public.
We know that those two articles have impacted many Community Peace Officer (CPO) agencies.
The wide-spread discussion is alive with many saying they would never take a position as a (CPO) where they would not be provided with personal protective equipment and training. Why? Because the risk is too high.
It is all too often that we see employers 鈥渢rain鈥� their officers by telling them to simply walk away if a dangerous situation presents itself.
In most cases we would agree that for a 鈥淣on-Police Law Enforcement Officer鈥� to depart dangerous situations is a desirable alternative over an altercation regarding a provincial offence or bylaw offence.
Where this response falls short though is the lack of training, tools and personal protective equipment (PPE) being provided to an officer in the event they find themselves in a situation that they can鈥檛 walk away from. Sometimes violent incidents towards all levels law enforcement can happen in an absolute instant without any warning at all.
As law enforcement officers ourselves, we have had direct experience with this. A sudden violent incident coupled with an officer who is ill-equipped and ill-trained is a severe tragedy. This was evident not too long ago when CPO Rod Lazenby was murdered in the line of duty. Although he was a former police officer, he was not provided with PPE, tools or effective rapid communications.
So, this whole idea of not providing officers with PPE, training and tools needs discussing. The time for politics is over. The Province of Alberta CPO program has suffered a death as a result of the lack of PPE and tools. Enough is enough, and that one time was far too many.
When was it decided that it was ok to place people in a law enforcement uniform and tell them to go out and enforce the laws of the province and the municipality without any protection at all?
When was it decided that dealing with emotionally charged situations on an hourly basis was a perfectly safe working environment?
Who decided that they would rather put their officer in harm's way rather than protect them due to a fear of appearances?
Law enforcement, at every level, in every size of village, town and city bears a high level of inherent and/or unknown risk that unfortunately many employers simply don鈥檛 recognize.
Many employers just don鈥檛 believe that an officer is at risk due to the size of their town or the location or the general environment, but the truth is they don鈥檛 know, we don鈥檛 know, nobody knows.
We can鈥檛 predict sudden violent incidents, it's literally impossible. So why wouldn鈥檛 we provide our law enforcement officers with the best tools, training and PPE for those 鈥渏ust in case鈥� moments?
Safety for our law enforcement should never ever take a back seat to political will and appearances. Law enforcement is a hard and dirty job and it doesn鈥檛 need to be made any harder by conflict over safety with their management.
If there is a tool, protective equipment or training that is available to our law enforcement officers and they could save the lives of those officers then the money should be spent on those things and they should be provided to the officers without hesitation.
Unfortunately, some just don鈥檛 see it that way and the fear of appearances takes over, and as before we boldly and confidently point our finger in their direction and advise them, with vigor, that they are being negligent on every level.
Dion Kedian
Owner and lead training instructor
Cochrane, AB
