Ceremony a tribute to Sask.’s fallen officers
List of those honoured stretches back more than a hundred years
Eric Martin comes off as a man of few words.
Perhaps it is because he doesn’t need many on a day like Sunday, as he stands in front of the Saskatchewan legislative building awaiting the start of the police and peace officers memorial ceremony.
It’s a day to remember those who lost their lives protecting the public. Martin says he comes every year. Why? “Respect,” he says. “It’s just something I was brought up with, I guess.”
That 60 people have lost their lives serving and protecting the public, surely, is not lost on Martin.
Justin Knackstedt, a conversation officer, was the most recent passing. In May of 2013 he was directing traffic at a motor vehicle accident when he was hit and killed.
The list of names stretch back more than a hundred years, before Saskatchewan was even a province; but knowing the list will grow weighs on those serving. It weighs too on their families. Phyllis Cherkas’ is in attendance for the ceremony; Her daughter has for more than a decade, served with the Saskatoon Police Service.
When asked how she feels about her daughter’s career, the mother takes a long pause before answering.
“It’s OK. I’m concerned, because there is so much going on,” she says. “She loves her work, though.” Cherkas is well aware of “all the dangerous things that could happen” to her daughter, but is still proud.
Another long pause is taken when asked if she thinks the general public understand the inherent risks and danger police officers deal with.
“You know, I’m not sure,” she says. “I’m sure some people probably don’t.”
She adds, “the things they deal with,” before her voice trails off a bit.
Indeed, officers — including those who work in Saskatchewan’s crimeridden cities — are often put at risk.
Shots were fired on Regina’s streets the day before the memorial took place and police have warned the number of firearm seizures are increasing.
Staff Sgt. Grant Obst is a member of the Saskatoon Police Service and helped organize the memorial.
“Everyone recognizes that there are inherent dangers with police work,” he said.
He explains that when police officers are murdered, it’s because they are police officers — not because they are a son or a mother, a person with loved ones.
“They’re murdered because they do what we do,” he said.
All the more reason they should be remembered not just for the badge they wore, but for the people they were.
They were people like Murray Doell, who died while evacuating a fire in northern Saskatchewan back in the summer of 1990. He was a conservation officer.
His brother, Greg Doell, laid a wreath on behalf of families of fallen officers on Sunday.
“It’s a difficult memory, of course. Losing a loved one, losing a brother,” said Doell, who serves himself as a corporal in the RCMP. “I am very proud of what he did for us.”
From the hundreds who came Sunday to pay their respects, so too were many from the community.