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Moosomin sergeant weighs in on protests

Globally there’s been growing Black Lives Matter protests against racism both within police forces and in society. The protests stem from the death of 46-year-old George Floyd who was killed by police in Minneapolis on May 25.
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Globally there’s been growing Black Lives Matter protests against racism both within police forces and in society. The protests stem from the death of 46-year-old George Floyd who was killed by police in Minneapolis on May 25.

Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder for kneeling on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. The other three officers involved — J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao — were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

The protests began in the U.S.A. in response to Floyd’s death and police violence against black people. They have since spread internationally with protests against excessive force by police officers with a demand to hold the police accountable for their actions.

Protests in support of Floyd, Black Lives Matter, and against racism have been held across Canada. There have been protests in major cities like Vancouver, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg and Toronto, as well as smaller communities all over the country.

The World-Spectator spoke to Moosomin RCMP Sgt. Scott Fefchak about his thoughts on the protests and his experiences as a police officer in Canada.

What are your thoughts on the situation that has led to the protests?

There are a lot of things that go through my mind. The first thing, obviously, what led to it was a horrible act by four police officers that resulted in a man dying.

To me, I don’t know a single cop in the entire country who would look at that and say, “that’s okay.” Nobody can’t stand that more than the police officers in Canada looking at that and being thrown into that same judge pile as those guys.

What do you think of the protests going on across North America right now?

It seems the bigger population density, the more outcry there is and that’s probably because when you have more people, there’s obviously more people that are upset by virtue of the fact that there are more people there. I certainly understand why people would be upset, but at the same time the process is to let the courts do their jobs too.

Honestly, if there was a peaceful protest around here for what happened in Minneapolis, I would go on my day off. I would probably even go on my day on and say, “absolutely we are with you. (What happened to George Floyd) should never happen, that’s ridiculous.”

How do you feel when you see some of the actions taken, on both sides of it? How does that make you feel when you see that vs. what you see in Canada?

Grateful. I’m so grateful to be a police officer in Canada, especially in this area.

People know that we try to do the right thing and we try to do a good job. I do think, for the most part, in Moosomin’s detachment area, people do trust the police.

Have you ever seen anything like what’s going on in the U.S.A. across Canada in the RCMP?

I know there are those who say by default there’s systemic racism, but without having the definition of systemic racism within the RCMP, I don’t feel like I can give an opinion on that because I don’t know what that means.

As far as racism within our organization, it’s crystal clear from day one when you step into depot that that’s not going to happen. The emphasis in the training is that we treat everyone equally and that's emphasized again and again.

Have you seen racism within the RCMP?

If you see racism, you condemn it immediately. It’s very clear in our organization that that’s not allowed and if that’s the way you’re going to be then you need to leave. There’s absolutely zero tolerance for that in the RCMP.

Having not worked in those places (in the U.S.A.) I don’t know, but I just know that here we’re in constant communication with our leadership in Ottawa and Regina. You’re never going to have a good excuse for saying something racist or arresting someone for a racist reason. You will never have a reason that’s going to be acceptable to our leadership or Canadians. That’s made crystal clear here. If you do a good job we’re going to support you, but if you do that stuff, you’re on your own.