Bob Weber, Canadian Press
EDMONTON (CP) -- Drugs may be behind growing violence against police officers who have had to dodge vehicles aimed at them six times in the last month, suggests the city’s police chief.
"(Suspects) are often very hyped-up and they take very aggressive measures to try and escape, including trying to hurt the police officer,” Chief Bob Wasylyshen said Thursday.
“We’re very well aware of the fact that . . . drugs or weapons are related. There’s some compelling reason they’re trying to escape.”
Just this week there have been two cases where suspects used vehicles as weapons against officers.
Two RCMP officers are recovering from broken bones after being hit by own of their own cruisers that was stolen from them when they pulled over a camper van Tuesday. Early Wednesday, an Edmonton officer was forced to leap out of the way when a speeding vehicle he was trying to stop took a run at him.
Edmonton’s police force is reconsidering some of its procedures as a result.
“We are currently looking at changing our training given this latest phenomenon of criminals using their vehicles to drive at police officers,” said Wasylyshen.
“We never anticipated those dangers to the extent they have been occurring lately.”
One of the changes being undertaken is how police officers approach vehicles they’ve stopped. Right now, officers always conduct themselves the same way, but will try to change their routine to become less predictable, said Wasylyshen.
The copycat factor is part of the problem, said Wasylyshen.
“Once one of these criminal types takes a run at a police officer with a car, all of a sudden others think that’s a good idea as well.”
The literal run on officers began Sept. 8 when a stolen truck rammed two police cruisers. Ten days later, an officer was knocked to the ground when he tried to get out of a cruiser that was rammed by a stolen van.
On Sept. 26, a break-and-enter suspect allegedly tried to hit an officer with a stolen car. The officer felt it necessary to fire three shots at the suspect.
Last week, an Edmonton officer’s leg was bruised after he was pinned between his cruiser and a vehicle he had pulled over for having a stolen licence plate.
Arrests were made in all cases, said police spokesman Wes Bellmore.
Wasylyshen will be bringing the trend up at a police chiefs conference in Philadelphia at the end of the month.
“I’ll be asking chiefs from the 60 largest police agencies in North America if they’ve been having similar problems and, if so, how are they dealing with them?
“There’s a lot less respect for the law these days.”