Update to the citizens of Fredericton

Type(s)
Police News

Seven short weeks ago, our Police Force – and our community – suffered a grave tragedy, something we never imagined could have happened.

The senseless loss of Donnie Robichaud, Bobbie Lee Wright, and our cherished officers, Cst. Sara Burns, and Cst. Robb Costello is still resonating throughout our great city, and in the hearts and minds of loved ones and colleagues.

As you can well imagine, the Fredericton Police Force is feeling this loss acutely, as we continue to move forward to serve and protect the citizens of Fredericton. While our core values have not changed, the way we deliver services have been adjusted to adapt to the realities we have faced post-August 10 and the subsequent impact on our staffing levels.

To ensure you are informed of how your police force is serving you, I would like to share some of those changes.

In order to bolster our frontline 24/7 emergency response capabilities, we have transferred a number of officers to the four Primary Response Team patrols from our other functions. To allow this to happen, we are currently not able to accommodate requests for Police Station tours, or public presentations. We will let you know as soon it is possible to once again provide those services.

It also means that in the short term, we will not be able to deploy our specialized traffic tools, such as portable electronic speed signs. However, we will continue to focus on traffic related calls and areas that put people at risk such as impaired and aggressive driving. Our 24/7 Primary Response officers will continue to enforce MVA infractions while balancing their patrol duties.

The tragedy has, as you can imagine, placed a strain on some of the members of our team with some who have not yet been able to return to full duties. To help address this, and with the City of Fredericton’s support, we are committed to hiring sixteen officers in the coming months, which is ten above our approved complement for this year. This will help to provide much needed resourcing to our front lines, return officers to their former duties in a timely manner and restore services that are important to this community. It will also provide some flexibility for officers who require time off for vacation or personal reasons – both of which are important for the wellness of our employees.

As Chief of Police, it is my responsibility to support our officers in whatever way I can, and provide a work environment that is safe and sustainable. It is also my responsibility to provide a police service that will serve and protect with professionalism, accountability, integrity, compassion and respect. Taking steps to appropriately staff our department in this time of need is part of that responsibility to both my officers and to you, the public we serve.

Over the past several weeks there has been an outpouring of support from people, police agencies and organizations in Fredericton, across Canada and around the world. The emails, cards, tokens of thanks have been humbly received, and have given officers and staff encouragement through these difficult times. We are continuing to organize these items, and ensure that they are redirected appropriately.

Today I am travelling back from Ottawa, where yesterday Cst. Burns and Cst. Costello were honoured at the Canadian Peace and Police Officers Memorial. A number of our members, the Burns and Costello families, as well as Mayor Mike O’Brien were in attendance to recognize the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. It has reminded me that the pain of the loss is still very fresh for us, and it will be continue to be as we face reminders in the coming weeks and months. 

Thank you for your continued support and patience as we heal and move forward. We feel your love and compassion, and appreciate it more than you can imagine.

Chief Leanne Fitch

Fredericton Police Force