Saskatchewan honours fallen police and peace officers

REGINA – Hundreds of members and officers from the RCMP and other services marched from the Royal Saskatchewan Museum to the Saskatchewan Legislative Building for the 11^th annual Police and Peace Officers Memorial on Sunday.

“We’re just demonstrating our respect, and the fact that their memories still live,” said Regina Police Service Chief Troy Hagen.

The names of conservation officer Justin Knackstedt, three RCMP constables and one Toronto Police Service constable were added to the memorial in Ottawa, joining about 840 others.

Knackstedt, then 23, was killed after being hit by a car in Saskatoon last year while assisting RCMP members.

“Justin, a role model officer, really. A young fellow, had a love for the outdoors and the work that he did, and he did it well,” said Dale Achtymichuk, a conservation officer at Wadena. “All officers feel a bit of sorrow and it’s emotional, I guess, for a lot. When one of our own goes down it’s tough to take.”

The pain of the losses is one that many at the event said is felt beyond departments and jurisdictions.

“If we look at the three officers in Moncton that were gunned down practically before they even got out of their police cars simply responding to a call, and all the law enforcement officers here today do that same thing day in and day out, respond to calls day in and day out. You just never know what’s waiting for you,” said Saskatoon Police Service Staff Sgt. Grant Obst.

Darlene Gardner’s husband, Leslie, was killed on the job in 1972.

“He went to work one night and never came home, and my son was 21 months old so it was a very sad time. But I know that he died doing what he believed in,” she said.

Darlene, who used to live in Moose Jaw before moving to Kamloops, B.C., laid a wreath on behalf of the families at the service, something she said she felt “very, very honoured” to do.

Sunday was the first time she participated in the event.  Despite the decades since her husband’s death the impact was still being felt.

“It just brings back all the memories why he did what he did,” she said.