FOR ISLAND POLICE OFFICERS, A GRIM DAY

Like most police officers, Insp. Pat Convey was feeling a little more
vulnerable Friday as the tragedy near Mayerthorpe, Alta., where four
RCMP officers were shot and killed at a rural marijuana grow-op, sank
in.

"It comes pretty close to home," said Convey, a member of the Combined
Forces Special Enforcement Team that targets organized crime.

"It makes you realize you're still in a pretty dangerous business. . .
. You think about the guys that are there and you equate similar
incidents that you were in. It's a bad day."

For a couple of Vancouver Island's top cops, the killing of four RCMP
officers in Mayerthorpe was particularly close to home.

It was less than 10 years ago that Central Saanich Chief Paul Hames
was the RCMP staff sergeant in charge of the detachment in Whitecourt,
Alta.

"This is just a very sad day for policing," said Hames, who said he
was familiar with the family name of the man believed to have killed
the officers.

"We're finding here, even, people coming up to the members and passing
on their respect. I think it touches home because the Victoria area is
really a small community in many ways."

Hames also recognized many citizens and politicians being interviewed
by national media in the wake of the deaths. "What was going through
my mind was the tragedy and the family and the friends and what
they're going through and what people go through when these things
happen," he said.

Such an event is bound to bring the community closer to the police, he
said.

Saanich Deputy Chief Mike Chadwick agreed. He has also been approached
by members of the public offering sympathy.

"I found that somehow comforting," he said. "I think they realize that
all police officers across this country are in the same boat when it
comes to enforcing the law and dealing with public order and providing
safety to the public.

"When they look to the local police it just reinforces what a
difficult and dangerous job it can be," Chadwick said.

"I think what's shocking everybody is the scale of the loss," Victoria
Police Chief Paul Battershill said.

Battershill said the deaths bring home the idea that grow ops being
guarded with arms should net significantly higher sentences.

"These are not Mom and Pop who are growing a few plants. These are
wide-scale organized crime events and they are dangerous and they're
dangerous to the public. They are dangerous to some electrician
showing up to repair a panel if it has been booby trapped and they're
dangerous to some kid knocking on the door if there is a paranoid guy
guarding it with a gun."

Oak Bay Deputy Chief Ron Gaudet is also ex-RCMP and familiar with the
area where the killings occurred. He served in the general
investigation section out of Edmonton, which covered Mayerthorpe as
part of its jurisdiction.

"It's just so incomprehensible," said Gaudet. "I just couldn't believe
it.

"Theoretically we've got all the proper laws in place to deal with
people who have weapons, etc.," he said, adding he heard a comment on
a radio talk show that it's only the good guys who register weapons.

Gaudet doesn't believe marijuana should be decriminalized.

"It has potential for leading to bigger things -- more serious crime
- -- and that's just my own personal opinion."

Chadwick, in 30 years of policing, has witnessed so many tragedies
associated with alcohol that he can't imagine why society would be in
a rush to decriminalize pot.

"In my view it can be just as harmful and just as damaging as alcohol
if not more so because I don't think we know as much about it."

Asked if marijuana should be decriminalized, Convey
laughed.

"I've been a narc for over 30 years. I've been through that debate
over and over many times," he said.

"Look what's happening. Legalization, whatever, that's way above me.
That's with the lawmakers of the country. But look what's going on.
The grows are crazy. . . . This thing is getting out of hand on us.
That was depicted yesterday.

"Legalization? Is that the answer? I don't know about that. . . . I
don't know about what was going on but where was his dope going? Who
was dealing with it? It's bigger than one recluse in Alberta," Covey
said.

Hames agrees with the Association of Canadian Chiefs of Police who
have come out against decriminalizing marijuana.

Battershill said legalization is a health issue. He said legalization
wouldn't have made a difference in this case. "These people will
continue to run these grows to export to the States. Canadian domestic
policy in that regard would not matter. Those grows would still
exist," he said.