The widow of a slain RCMP officer is calling for changes in the way the force patrols remote communities in the North, saying her husband would still be alive if a mandatory backup policy had been in place.
"The RCMP as an organization is not doing enough to keep the members safe," said Jodie Worden, whose husband, Const. Christopher Worden, 30, was gunned down in Hay River, N.W.T., last month.
Jodie Worden is the widow of Const. Christopher Worden.
(CBC)
"They have no idea the demands and the expectations that are put on regular members up in the North," she told CBC News Thursday.
Worden's comments follow the death of Const. Douglas Scott, 20, who was shot and killed earlier this week while responding to a drunk-driving complaint in Kimmirut, Nunavut.
In both cases, the officers answered the service calls alone, late at night.
Worden says she believes her husband's death — and possibly Scott's as well — could have been prevented if there had been backup.
"They need to send two members to every call," Worden said. "That's just an officer safety issue. [The policy] needs to be changed and it needs to happen now."
Worden said it should not be up to the discretion of each officer whether to take backup.
"Things would have been different. I believe Chris would have been alive. If shots had been fired, the second officer would have been able to return fire," Worden said. "There are so many different scenarios, but what it comes down to is, if there had been two members, it may not have even happened in the first place."
After a six-day manhunt, Emrah Bulatci was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Worden.
RCMP are currently working on a new policy for sending backup, set to be released on Dec. 3. The policy will force officers to call for backup in specific situations that have the potential to be violent.
Worden also said that too many officers posted in the North are too inexperienced.
"It is unfortunate, I don't believe Constable Scott should have been in a two-member detachment with only his six months training under his belt."
Pingoatuk (Ping) Kolola was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the death of Scott.
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