Just over two weeks after a the deadly mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, the National Police Federation (NPF) confirms talks are underway with the federal government to increase policing resources.
“The conversation is happening. I would suggest there’s a big willingness to make that happen. There’s an understanding, especially when all leaders of all our federal parties were in Tumbler Ridge,” said RCMP Staff Sgt. Jeff Swann, director with the NPF.
Swann tells 1130 NewsRadio he was on the ground shortly after hearing details about the violence.
“It was heartbreaking. I’ve got 30 years of policing behind me, and that was the saddest day I’ve ever had in this career. Just seeing the community, the paramedics, the firefighters, the police officers and the residents — everywhere you went, there was someone grieving. It was just devastating for everyone involved. It’s a small town, but it’s just a segment of Canadians. They come from all walks of life, they are there living, working, going to school. And when you send your kids to school, you expect and assume they’re going to be safe.”
On the day of the shooting, he says four Mounties were working in Tumbler Ridge. Provincial statistics from 2024 show the community has five members for a population of just over 2,700.
Swann explains one had been transferred out, and the replacement had yet to arrive. Two of the members were on duty and went to the scene, and two were not — they were called in, but by the time they arrived, the shooting had stopped.
Swann says the detachment in Tumbler Ridge needs at least two to three more officers and feels the shooting highlights the need for more officers in other smaller, rural communities across the province.
He understands funding public safety through policing is expensive, and may be hard to fund given the country’s and province’s economic situations.
“There’s a bigger conversation in regard to, ‘Are there enough police?’ Policing is expensive. We get that. It’s the number one budget item on many municipalities. Policing costs money, but if you want to have women and men in uniform who are going to respond to these things, we’re going to have to fund it properly. Successive governments in a row have always looked at the RCMP and thought, ‘Oh, we’ll just cut here and cut here.’”
“I’ve got 30 years of policing behind me, and that was the saddest day I’ve ever had in this career.”
He adds that a fight over wages also led to fewer graduates, but says things have slowly turned around. He points to the 20,000 applicants this year alone who are trying to join the RCMP and hopes, in the next two to three years, it leads to more RCMP members.
A week after the shooting, the Independent Investigations Office (IIO) confirmed it was looking into the shooting — separate from the RCMP’s investigation.
Swann says that’s a typical mandate of the office.
“Anytime a police officer is engaged with a member of the public, and if someone is hurt grievously or dead, and there’s any level of police involvement, the RCMP has said, ‘Let’s have an outside agency investigate it.’”
It’s not clear how long the IIO’s investigation will take. Swann confirms the members who responded to the shooting were wearing body cameras at the time.
The tragedy took place over a span of just minutes in the early afternoon of Feb. 10. The violence left eight victims dead, including an educator. The shooter took her own life.