Edmonton Journal

Police force too busy for funeral escorts

- OTIENA ELLWAND

Police funeral procession escorts have been laid to rest as the violent crime rate rises and calls for service spike.

For the past few decades, Edmonton police have provided officers and vehicles to help with traffic control when funeral homes requested it. The service was provided free to any large procession when police had time and staff available.

But police say they’re strapped. Over the past four years, the number of calls has grown significan­tly and demands on police time are unrelentin­g, deputy chief Brian Simpson wrote in a letter to funeral homes on Sept. 17. This year, calls for service increased by 8.6 per cent, or by about 9,000 calls, and violent crime is up by 12 per cent.

“Because our top priority is to respond to these calls as quickly as possible, we can no longer assign officers to funeral escort duties,” Simpson wrote.

“It was our privilege to help grieving families provide their loved ones with a respectful final journey.”

Ken Papirny, general manager of the Connelly-McKinley Funeral Home downtown, said he usually requested police assistance once or twice a month for procession­s of 20 cars or more. Five or six police vehicles or motorcycle­s were involved.

Police helped block traffic at major intersecti­ons so the procession could travel smoothly and safely from the funeral home to the cemetery, which was especially important for central funeral homes that had to travel long distances to get to the burial site.

Funeral procession­s are often an important part of the grieving process because they allow all the attendees to arrive together and put their loved one to rest together, Papirny said.

While he’s disappoint­ed the escorts have been cancelled, he understand­s how overworked and how time-consuming they were for police.

Papirny, who has been involved in the funeral industry since 1971, said the major issue is drivers not respecting procession­s like they once did. People often speed up to try to get ahead of the procession, causing traffic hazards, he said.

The funeral home will now have to handle traffic concerns.

“It does affect us in the fact that it would be nice for safety reasons to have a police escort; seeing as they’re not going to do that anymore, we really have to take a lot more precaution­s,” he said.

In other Canadian cities, including Calgary, Lethbridge, Toronto and Vancouver, police escorts for funeral procession­s are not common.

In Toronto, the service can be requested, but a fee will be charged.

 ??  ?? Brian Simpson
Brian Simpson

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