Police mourn officer’s sudden death

EDMONTON Edmonton city police are in mourning after the sudden death of an officer.

Edmonton Police Service spokesman Scott Pattison confirmed Tuesday that an officer had died by suicide.

“It’s a very difficult day for our members and our service today,” Pattison said in an email. “I won’t, however, be confirming any other details about this situation.”

Edmonton Police Association president Sgt. Michael Elliott said the service is grieving.

“Members are hurt, depressed, sad, angry,” he said. “It’s a cumulation of everything. The members I’ve been talking to, they’re (asking), ‘What could we have done? Could we have done more? Why did he do this? Why didn’t he reach out for help? Was there help?’”

Elliott declined to identify the officer, citing the family’s wishes, but said in a tweet the deceased was a “colleague, father and friend.”

Condolences for the officer’s family began to appear on social media Tuesday. A Gofundme page for the officer’s wife and children was posted the following day.

Elliott said the month of June has a reputation as a tragic month in EPS history.

Const. Ezio Faraone was killed on June 25, 1990, by a suspect in a botched bank robbery.

June was also the month in which Const. Daniel Woodall was shot to death while investigating a hate crime five years ago.

Another officer, who was never identified publicly, died suddenly in June 2009.

Elliott has been outspoken about his own mental health and the mental health of officers. While making clear he wasn’t speaking about the officer’s specific case, he said police are under stress from the COVID-19 pandemic, increased calls for service and the climate of heightened antipathy toward police officers.

“Stress can be quite cumulative with police officers,” Elliott said. “When things are going well in life — you’re sleeping well, eating well, everyone’s healthy — you can go to a collision where somebody died and you can handle the stress.”

When things aren’t going well, he said, high-stress incidents on the job can be “triggers that set you off. You become irritable, you become complacent, and you become angry. That’s what I see amongst officers. That was me ... it was a culmination of everything.

“It’s a demanding and stressful job, when things are going well.”

If you or someone you know need help, please call Alberta’s Mental Health Helpline at 1-877-3032642, Healthlink at 811, or 911 24 hours a day, seven days a week.