POLICE OFFICERS SHOT

Time To Mourn

In the early hours after a shocking tragedy like Thursday's shooting deaths
of four RCMP officers there is always confusion and misinformation.

Some of what is reported in the media concerning events and how they
happened is little more than informed speculation. Based on what they have
heard, or think they know, people are asked to comment on the meaning and
implications of the tragedy.

It has been no different in the case of the deaths of these four young
officers, shot at a farm outside the hamlet of Rochfort Bridge, Alta..
Their deaths were immediately linked to, among other things, a need for
tougher penalties for large-scale marijuana growers, a plague of big city
criminals invading small towns and the case for tighter gun regulation.

Within 24 hours it was becoming clear that some of those associations
didn't apply, and that not enough was known to be sure about others.

What we do know is that four men who were doing their jobs, trying to keep
their community safe, were murdered. We can say for certain that there is
no bringing back Const. Brock Myrol, Const. Leo Johnston and the two
officers whose names had not been released at our deadline yesterday. They
will be sorely missed by their families, friends and the people of the
villages where they were stationed.

We are also reminded that policing is a dangerous occupation. Not the most
dangerous. Of the 1,000 people who die on the job in Canada in an average
year, it is unusual if more than two or three are police officers. But
other job-related deaths are accidental. Only police officers go to work
every day knowing there is a chance they will come across someone who may
kill them.

What happened in Alberta on Thursday is the extreme outcome of that daily
possibility. However it happened, whatever those officers were doing or
thinking before they were gunned down, the awful incident is a reminder of
how much we all owe the police for putting themselves in that position.
They are on the side of the law; without them we could not rely on the law
to protect us from what lurks on the other side.

Their deaths are also a reminder, however, that the law can't protect
everyone in every situation. And police officers can't always protect us,
or even themselves, from people like Jim Roszko.

Roszko is believed to have been growing marijuana at his property and had
been convicted in the past of using it as a "chop shop" where stolen cars
were dismantled for parts. Police have not yet said exactly how all of that
figured into the arrival of the four officers at Roszko's ranch Thursday
afternoon.

What Roszko's neighbours, and his father, have confirmed is that he was a
dangerous, bitter man who hated the RCMP and owned a cache of guns. He was,
according to his 80-year-old father, "a wicked devil."

Roszko turned out to be worse than that. He was -- and in this case the
cliche proved tragically accurate -- every police officer's worst
nightmare: A man who was ready to kill and willing to die.

The Jim Roszkos of the world are the reason police sometimes appear to go
overboard when dealing with potentially dangerous situations. They are the
reason Peterborough police shut down a neighbourhood street last week and
called out the full emergency response team when a woman reported there
were guns in her home and her teenage son was threatening to shoot himself.
What could be seen as over-caution was a minor annoyance for the
neighbourhood; too little caution might have been fatal. Officers should
never be expected to take that chance, not with their own lives or the
lives of others.

There will be plenty of time to review what happened on that Alberta farm,
and the RCMP should release all details of events leading up to the murders
and of the actual shootings. If there are lessons to be learned from what
happened, the public, not just the police, should know what they are.

For the moment, it is enough to mourn the fallen men, sympathize with their
families, and pay respect to all police officers for the job they do.