The Death of RCMP Constable Heidi Stevenson

In situations like this, when our officers are called to answer the call of duty and are killed, there are no words to sufficiently describe the debt we owe them.  Constable Stevenson’s commitment to the protection of her citizenry was of the highest order.  The courage, bravery, and dedication to protecting innocent civilians from an active killer is indescribable.  

Constable Stevenson, a mother, and wife, knew she was confronting an active killer on a rampage of carnage and destruction.  When most people would be running away, putting distance between themselves and a deadly threat, Constable Stevenson chose to put herself between the threat and the innocents.  Knowing this subject was an armed killer, she rammed his vehicle, and engaged him at a distance most likely measured in mere feet.  

Think about that for a second.  Think about sitting at a red light when a guy a couple of cars over starts shooting people for no apparent reason.  You have three choices, run away, drive away, or engage the killer, fight or flight.  I would venture to say most of us would try to put as much distance between ourselves and the killer as possible by either driving away or running away if we were unable to maneuver our car out of the area.  I am sure the thought of running away or getting away from the threat did not even cross Constable Stevenson’s mind.  I can only hope that Constable Stevenson’s actions that day allowed her fellow officers the time, opportunity, or chance to neutralize the killer.  I am sure it did.

After the death of an officer, or anyone else for that matter, we like to think they are in a better place, that their suffering on this earth has come to an end, and that they are in eternal happiness now.  I cannot say that I believe that.  I believe there is no better place on this earth, in this universe, or anywhere, that is a better place for Constable Stevenson than to be with her children, her husband, and her brothers and sisters of the RCMP.  

People wonder why police deaths are always a big deal, why police funeral processions snarl traffic, and why police funerals are so massively attended.  The answer is because when a police officer is killed in the line of duty, part of our society dies.  The police, like Constable Stevenson did, stand between us and the predators.  As best they can, the police protect us from those who do not value life, those who would kill us for no other reason than to take our property or to prove some stupid point.  An attack, any attack, on a police officer is an attack on our society and the lives we hold so dear.

I am thankful for the service of Constable Stevenson, thankful for her dedication to duty, thankful she was there that day to intervene, and thankful for her heroism.  My thanks are not enough, your thanks are not enough, our thanks are not enough.  We will memorialize Constable Stevenson, we will tell stories of her heroism, we will lay tribute to her service, but it will never be enough.  It will never be enough to bring back a mother to her children, a wife to her husband, a sister to her siblings, or a daughter to her parents.  No matter what we do it will never be enough and that just angers me to no end. 

In parting, I leave the predators of society with this warning, a warning they should know if they choose to go down the path of death and destruction, a warning most law enforcement leaders will not publicly state, a warning from an old street cop from Miami.  If you kill a police officer, everything stops.  Every cop on the street will be actively looking for you.  Every cop on the street will engage you on sight.  Every cop on the street will make it their purpose to apprehend you.  We will find you, we will bring you to justice, and if you force us, we will kill you, rest assured of that.