Each week when we run St. Albert’s crime map – a graphic compilation detailing much, but hardly all RCMP business in the community – we are often struck at what a peaceful, law-abiding place the city is to live, work and raise a family. On any given week, there may be a few complaints of mischief and a handful of thefts or break and enters. None of these things are excusable, but they are generally small in number and minor in nature. That is a reflection of the health of our community and, compared to many places in the word, it is very safe.
Saturday’s shootings of RCMP Const. David Wynn, a family man with three children, and Derek Bond, a volunteer auxiliary constable, by cowardly career criminal Shawn Rehn have shaken our collective feelings of safety to the core. Bond will survive, but at the time of this writing, Wynn’s family has told us that it has already said its goodbyes. And all of a sudden, when the tragedy occurs just down the road, it becomes real. We join a growing list of places where a disregard for a civil society and respect for those in uniform is disappearing in puffs of gunsmoke.
We sadly aren’t alone. Last month, a police officer was shot and wounded after stopping a vehicle in Kamloops, B.C., last year, three officers were killed by a gunman in Moncton, N.B., and Mayerthorpe’s RCMP lost four members to a deranged thug a decade ago. In all of these places, the loss is profound and though time may dull some of the initial pain, it never really goes away for the survivors of these meaningless attacks.
While this week, our thoughts are with the families and St. Albert’s RCMP detachment, we also should not forget that this incident raises some important questions for the greater community. Some of these questions may be painful, but they simply need to be answered. Why, for instance, was the shooter not in jail, when he was sentenced to 10 years barely five years ago? How did he acquire a handgun, when the courts had imposed a lifetime firearms ban for previous offences? Why was he on the loose after failing to appear in court? Why was a volunteer involved in the arrest of such a dangerous offender? And, perhaps most importantly, how many other ticking time bombs like Rehn with a complete disdain for law and order are walking the streets across the country?
As a community newspaper, we are part of this conversation. With no more special power or entitlement than any guy on the street corner, we will be asking some of these questions ourselves, in addition to committing the words of others to print when they ask the questions. We will also be asking many of you on your thoughts about the contributions these two officers have made to the communities where they served. When they have sacrificed so much, they deserve to have their work appreciated. They both committed their lives to making St. Albert the safe place we all want.
