N.B. Police Forces Offer Support To N.S.

The president of the New Brunswick Association of Chiefs of Police says he was devastated after hearing of this weekend’s shooting in Nova Scotia.

“It’s hard to imagine and hard to try to make sense of it,” said Wayne Gallant, who is also chief of the Kennebecasis Regional Police Force.

At least 19 people were killed in the shooting spree, including Const. Heidi Stevenson, a 23-year veteran of the RCMP. A second police officer suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Gallant said the incident makes the realities of what police officers do every day all the more real.

“For policing, especially in this region for the past six or seven years, there’s just been far, far too much of this and it continues to take its toll on the psyche of our officers and what they do,” he said.

New Brunswick has dealt with two mass shootings in recent years which claimed the lives of police officers.

In August 2018, two Fredericton police officer and two civilians were gunned down on the city’s north side.

Four years earlier, in June 2014, three RCMP officers were killed and two others were hurt in Moncton.

Gallant said he spoke with Assistant Commissioner Larry Tremblay, commanding officer of the New Brunswick RCMP, and offered up any help the force may need.

“It’s a family approach when times get tough and, as we saw in Moncton and in Fredericton, we all support each other,” said Gallant.

“He knows that all the policing are with the RCMP, in particular in Nova Scotia, so if they need anything they know that we’ll be there.”