It was a routine call – not a tactical response gone bad – that lead to the tragic shooting of Const. David Wynn and Auxiliary Const. Derek Bond on Saturday morning.
During a press conference on Sunday, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said Wynn and Bond didn't know they were dealing with someone potentially dangerous when they approached him at Apex Casino.
"There's no way we could expect these officers to know the kind of threat that was walking around," Paulson said.
"It should not be understood as a firepower issue. Our officers were well-equipped, they were wearing their equipment, they had their equipment available, officers that came to support them had their equipment available," Paulson said on Sunday.
The shooting began as a routine investigation into a stolen vehicle and turned violent "in the blink of an eye."
Paulson said it wasn't an issue of a "tactical response gone bad," but questioned how Shawn Rehn was walking around given the charges he was facing and his extensive record.
Assistant Commissioner Marlin Degrand said while they'll always look to see if they can learn from incidents, the RCMP are not going to say they'll raise the level of armament officers have when dealing with routine calls.
"That's just not going to happen," Degrand said, noting not every individual the police deal with "is going to be armed to the teeth."
It was a short confrontation, Degrand said, where the officers tried to place their hands on the suspect and he pulled away – and pulled his gun, shooting both Bond and Wynn.
"We're talking three to five seconds," Degrand said.
Auxiliary officers
Bond is one of more than 2,000 auxiliary constables that volunteer with RCMP detachments across the country.
The RCMP auxiliary program was started in 1963.
"I think it's clear these people are community volunteers … this is their way of giving back to the community," said Rob Creasser, a spokesman for the Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada and a retired RCMP officer.
Each province administers its own version of the program, he said. In B.C., where Creasser worked with auxiliaries, they stopped allowing the volunteers access to firearms during their shifts.
That's because there was some abuse of the system, where auxiliary members were being sent out together instead of with a supervising officer, he said.
"I think it was placing volunteers in much greater peril than the program was set out for," Creasser said.
Auxiliaries do provide valuable services that free up regular members by doing activities like school visits or bike rodeos.
But they also accompany a regular officer on a shift.
"I used to take auxiliaries out with me all the time," Creasser said. "They're kind of an extra set of eyes for me as I'm doing my job."
As for the incident in St. Albert, Creasser said there's a use of force continuum that officers follow – usually you start out with just trying to speak to the suspect.
"When you walk up to somebody and say you're under arrest … and a guy brings out a gun and shoots you, that all happens pretty quickly. And unless the Canadian public is willing to tolerate policemen holding a gun at them as they're being placed under arrest, that's the way business has to be done," Creasser said.
City ready to respond
On Monday, council passed a motion to authorize the mayor and city manager to do whatever it takes to help with the situation.
"We are taking the lead from the family and RCMP," said Mayor Nolan Crouse. "Whatever the RCMP and the family and the community needs are, we are going to be helping in every … capacity that we can."
– with files from Amy Crofts
