The impact of the Dallas shooting weighs heavy on officers around the world, including members of the Calgary Police Department.
While tens of thousands of people lined the streets for the Stampede Parade Friday, police chief Roger Chaffin was in the middle of it all, taking part in the annual ceremony.
“When you are out there in public like this in this uniform you do have a certain amount of vulnerability,” Chaffin admits. “I don’t dwell on it, nor do many of our officers dwell on it, but it’s certainly always there, in the back of your mind… These people go out every day; 24 hours a day they are out there exposing themselves.”
Over 200 officers were deployed to the parade route Friday.
“They have this on their minds. They are out there, exposed at a public event.”
Racial tensions are the centre of the Dallas shooting investigation.
READ MORE: Micah Xavier Johnson: What we know about the suspected Dallas police shooter
The chief of police in Dallas said the suspect in the shootings told negotiators he wanted to “kill white people, especially white officers.”
In Calgary, supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement suggest Canadians should pay attention to what’s happening south of the border.
“There is a fear, whether or not this could happen here, that the racism won’t be addressed,” Susannah Alleyne, with Black Lives Matter said.
“We still get up in the middle of the night and worry about our sons and our brothers.”
In the Canadian context, Chaffin references law enforcement’s relationship with local First Nation communities as a similar issue.
“We are making sure we are listening and understanding them,” Chaffin said.
Calgary police have a special focus on diversity and fostering relationships between all communities in Calgary. But Chaffin suggests this kind of tragedy could happen anywhere.
“Everybody who lives in a major city knows you are just one chaotic event away from it happening to you too.”
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