The look on Jon Reid’s face as he walked out of another cop funeral was not just one of grief.
It was anger.
“The whole thing is unacceptable,” said the Toronto Police Association (TPA) president.
Saying there should be no tolerance of a police officer being ambushed and murdered in a public place, the TPA boss said now that Const. Andrew Hong has been buried, it’s time to do the work to make sure it never happens again.
And, he promises, the TPA is going to press hard for that.
“This is the kind of thing that doesn’t happen in Canada,” he told reporters after Wednesday’s massive funeral at the Congress Centre.
But now that it has happened in Canada, politicians need to look at why and what needs to be fixed.
“We will be talking to government,” said Reid.
In fact, they have already started.
“I look at policing these days and Andrew’s death is so tragic. It’s really an attack on modern society. This shouldn’t be accepted,” he said. “As an association, we will be pushing forward to try to do something about it.”
Hong was ambushed Sept. 12 inside a Mississauga Tim Hortons while on a coffee run from a nearby training centre where he was training officers on motorcycles.
Killer Sean Petrie, 40, waited for more than two hours inside a car he was living in before sneaking up on Hong and shooting him at close range. Saying it was a “targeted” slaying, investigators are still trying to determine if violent career criminal Petrie was looking for any officer in uniform or had a beef with Hong specifically.
So far police are leaning toward Petrie looking to kill any police officer as the motive but they are running down every lead and are not closing the door on any avenue.
After executing Hong, Petrie shot and wounded a man in the parking lot, stole his car and went to Milton, where he shot and killed auto repair shop owner Shakeel Ashraf, 39, and employee Satwinder Singh, 28, who was an international student, while wounding a third employee.
Petrie was soon after shot and killed by police in Hamilton after engaging in a gun battle with both Hamilton and Halton officers.
Halton Chief Steve Tanner, Hamilton Chief Frank Bergen and Peel Chief Nishan Duraiappah have indicated the history of the gun and ammunition will be vital to this probe, which is also being investigated by the SIU.
While this case will not be going to court since the accused is deceased, police still hope to have the investigation into all aspects of this completed before the end of the year.
Whatever is determined to have been behind this, Reid vowed to reporters the TPA will be pressuring government for tougher sentencing, for bail and parole reform, and for more action on illegal guns including “legislative reforms regarding firearms offences.”
Reid added, “These are things I believe need to be enacted and pushed forward by the federal government.”
While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not at the funeral, he unlikely missed seeing the ourpouring of love and respect people had for badge number #7185 and his family.
But they may not have seen the concern many officers have now following this dark and dastardly deed that every officer in uniform understands all too well could have easily been them on the receiving end had they walked into that Tim Hortons at that time.
Reid says the TPA won’t be waiting around for the next time. They are making their concerns for change on how Canada deals with serious criminals known now.
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