Number of police officers killed while on duty 'unprecedented,' says Ontario police association president
The shooting death of Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala mere hours after he had passed his 10-month probation period and was granted the ability to patrol independently, has left many in the ranks devastated.
OPP say Pierzchala, 28, was shot just after 2:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday while responding to a vehicle in a ditch just west of Hagersville, about 45 kilometres southwest of Hamilton.
He is the fourth officer to be killed while on duty in Ontario this fall and the fifth killed in Canada while on the job since mid-September. Another officer was killed in a car collision while off duty, allegedly by an impaired driver.
"This is unprecedented in Canada," said Mark Baxter, president of the Police Association of Ontario, which represents 28,000 sworn members from 45 police associations across the province.
"I've been in policing for 18 years, but certainly during my time I've never seen anything like this," said Baxter.
"It really has shaken our profession to the core."
In Ontario between 1961 and 2009, data from Statistics Canada show 44 homicides against police officers, a rate of less than one per year.
Between 2010 and 2021, five officers were killed in Ontario, including Const. Marc Hovingh and Const. Jeffrey Northrup in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
"We hear about the deaths of police officers in the United States just south of us far too frequently. This doesn't happen in Canada," Baxter said.
"To have all of these deaths in such a short period of time is really quite alarming."
Timeline of 2022 police killings in Canada:
Const. Andrew Hong, 48, of the Toronto Police Service was fatally shot in a Mississauga, Ont., coffee shop on Sept. 12.
Const. Morgan Russell, 54, and Const. Devon Northrup, 33, of the South Simcoe Police Service both died in hospital after responding to a call at a home in Innisfil, Ont., located about 100 kilometres north of Toronto, on Oct. 11.
Const. Shaelyn Yang, 31, was working on a mental health and outreach team when she was stabbed to death on Oct. 18 in Burnaby, B.C.
Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala, 28, was shot and killed while responding to a vehicle in a ditch just west of Hagersville, Ont., on Dec. 27.
The list does not include Const. Travis Gillespie, 38, a York Regional Police officer who was allegedly killed by an impaired driver in a head-on collision on his way to work in Markham on Sept. 14.
Stats Can says murdered police officers were on average 34 years old at the time of their death and had been with their present police service for a period of less than five years.
Pierzchala was new to the OPP.
Michael Arntfield, a criminologist and professor at Western University, says the recent deaths are concerning and an indication of how dangerous policing has become, given the growing responsibilities of officers.
But Arntfield, a former officer himself, says police deaths are still rare and the string of tragedies does not represent a growing trend.
Supports available, police associations say
However, as police services across provinces grapple with the number of officers killed this year, Ontario Provincial Police Association (OPPA) spokesperson Scott Mills says police agencies rally around each other for support.
"It doesn't matter what service that you work for. It just strikes you right in the heart, like it's one of your own family members that died," says Mills.
He says the 'Encompas' Mental Health Wellness Program is available to 6,200 uniform and approximately 3,600 civilian members of the OPPA.
Some of the other services available, both Mills and Baxter say, include:
Boots on the Ground, an anonymous peer support for first responders.
Canada Beyond the Blue, which provides community support to police spouses and families.
Badge of Life Canada, which helps Canadian public safety personnel and their families who are dealing with operational stress injuries, including post-traumatic stress.
Wounded Warriors, a national mental health service provider.
This comes as police agencies are grappling with staffing shortages and recruitment issues across the country, an issue Mills says may be affected by the latest killings.
"There are so many line of duty deaths and it is taking a toll. Our staffing levels are low," Mills said.
Baxter says every police department in the province is understaffed and experiencing a staffing crisis.
"And on top of that, we are having recruiting challenges already and we know that these types of events only compound that," says Baxter.
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