Monuments to fallen police and firefighters vandalized with paint
CCTV video under review in police investigation of the attacks
Calgary police say they’re reviewing video surveillance of a memorial to fallen police and firefighters that was vandalized outside Calgary city hall recently.
The memorials in Municipal Plaza feature a statue of a firefighter and a police officer, and display the names of the men and women who died in the line of duty.
Both statues were smeared with red and yellow paint sometime earlier in the week.
By Saturday, the paint had been removed with a pressure washer, although some stains remained.
Calgary police Duty Insp. Curtis Olsen confirmed CCTV footage of the scene is being reviewed as part of their investigation.
In 2019, six names were added to the firefighters’ memorial during a ceremony. It includes the names of those who have taken their own lives due to the stress of their work, and those who died from workrelated cancers.
Coun. Jyoti Gondek, who sits on the Calgary police commission, said her brother-in-law was a firefighter who died from a workrelated cancer. She said the vandalism struck her personally because firefighters serve everyone when they need help the most.
“When I saw it, I said I can’t believe that somebody would do this, but I also thought there’s a lot of tensions and frustrations are running high right now,” said Gondek.
She said the motive for the vandalism isn’t known, but added this isn’t a way to send a message.
“I can tell you as someone who’s fought the system for a very long time based on the colour of my skin, or my gender, I can say you have to do it in a certain way, and you have to create partnerships with the people who are least like you,” Gondek said.
“It’s frustrating and it takes a long time, but the systems we created took a long time to create.”
Gondek said the system needs change, but people need to do meaningful things to bring about those changes, rather than committing acts of vandalism.
“If you don’t want them to judge you based on the way you look, then don’t judge them based on the uniform they wear and assume they’re all the same, because they’re not,” she said.
When I saw it, I said I can’t believe that somebody would do this, but I also thought there’s a lot of tensions and frustrations are running high right now.