SUDBURY OFFICERS TO ATTEND RCMP MEMORIAL

The Greater Sudbury Police Service will be sending four officers to
Edmonton for Thursday's national memorial service for the four slain RCMP
officers slain last week.

Two members of the Greater Sudbury Fire Department will also attend the
service, which is expected to attract thousands of police officers and
dignitaries from across Canada and the United States. The local RCMP
detachment will not be sending anyone to the memorial.

"Six people from Ontario, including our commanding officer, who will be
representing all officers from Ontario, will be attending," said Staff Sgt.
Claude Faucher from the Sudbury RCMP detachment. "All of the good mates and
fellow officers who worked with the four slain officers will be allowed to
attend, and that's why a decision has been made not to send anyone from
this detachment."

Insp. Al Lekun, Insp. Gene Toffoli, Sgt. Dale Healey and one other officer
who has yet to be named, will attend the ceremony representing Greater
Sudbury Police. The ceremony will be held Thursday at the University of
Alberta.

Insp. Susan Evans said the violence in Alberta has shaken every officer
across Canada.

"We obviously didn't know these officers, but it brings back some terrible
memories of the officers we have lost locally," said Evans. "It really goes
to show that this job is not predictable and that a small segment of the
population is violent.

"All police officers take sworn to protecting the public...and we try and
go into every situation armed with as much information as possible, but
this tragedy highlights you just don't know when you are going to encounter
danger and violence."

Faucher said, "We do the same type of work here in Sudbury that those
officers out west do, and it certainly brings home the message that this
type of thing could happen at any time. It certainly set back all of our
(15) officers here in Sudbury and makes you think things like this do happen."

Police in Alberta say the man accused of murdering the four officers and
then taking his own life, Jim Roszko, 47, was operating a marijuana grow
operation. He "ambushed" the officers when they entered the building where
thousands of marijuana plants were growing.

The investigation has centred around police trying to arrest Roszko for
refusing to make payments on a new truck. When police went to a farm, they
discovered the marijuana operation and returned. The officers were ambushed
by Roszko, who was armed with an assault weapon.

Evans said this case is sure to bring the spectre of marijuana grow
operations into the political and judicial forefront.

"All I will say is these large-scale marijuana grow operations are
dangerous," she said. "They involve organized crime as very few involve a
couple trying to grow a few plants to make a few extra dollars.

"They often involve barricades and booby-traps...and are often very
dangerous for police. As I've said, police try and get as much information
as possible whenever they attend a scene, but we can't always be prepared
for unexpected bursts of violence."