Early in the COVID-19 ‘pandemic,’ a former Edmonton police officer noticed something didn’t “smell right.” Fear “propaganda” about the virus conflicted with what he saw on the job.“We were working on the frontlines at that point, a lot of us. From my perspective, if we were going to see the deaths that they were saying we were going to see, we would be among the first to be exposed to that and the first to see that,” he told the Western Standard.“The sudden deaths with the numbers they were projecting didn’t happen. That got my attention that something doesn’t smell right here,” he said. “It appeared to be somewhat of a hoax, what we were being sold. That got me thinking there’s something going on here, especially with all the propaganda and censorship we were seeing as well.”When he resisted mandates personally and on the public’s behalf — and advised fellow officers to proceed with enforcement caution — his 16-year career with Edmonton Police Service (EPS) was destroyed.“I was the first one (policeman) I think, in Canada, to be essentially fired, suspended without pay,” he said.The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Alberta and Ontario declared states of emergency six days later. The ensuing crackdown on Charter rights that culminated in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau implementing the War Measures (Emergencies) Act is ugly history.Near the beginning, it seemed evident that the hysterical hype about the ‘deadly’ virus was overblown.He asked to remain anonymous, not because of EPS. Even now, with all that has been exposed and workers winning wrongful dismissal and COVID-19 vaccine injury lawsuits, people must exercise caution. Those whose careers were destroyed are building new lives.“They’re (EPS) gonna figure it out anyway. “I’m OK with them figuring it out but there’s still a chance that even in the job I’ve got, there could be reprisals.”If street cops noticed hype didn’t match reality, how could it have escaped the attention of EPS leadership?They let politicians lead them by the nose. Implemented harsher workplace mandates. According to a recent damning report that examined the EPS COVID-19 response— based on 8,717 pages of information access requests — also undertook actions worthy of “criminal investigation.” An unchecked “mob mentality” made life hell for sworn members and civilians who refused the jab or wouldn’t reveal their status.This former cop refused to sign the “unlawful” mandatory vaccine disclosure form. He was suspended without pay October 2021. An investigation into insubordination under the Police Act was launched. Union lawyers told him an appeal could take up to a year.“I couldn’t wait two months without employment let alone a year. At that point I had to resign, draw my pension, and look for other work. That being right around Christmas time 2021. I felt it was the right thing to do and what they were doing was wrong.”“After I resigned the association (Edmonton Police Association) didn’t do anything to fight for me in that sense and since closed my file.”The need to “make an example” out of him was the beginning of quest to shame and punish resisters who might influence others. The theory among members is the strong had to be culled so as not to challenge with crackdowns.“Oh,100% I told my guys on the squad ‘Don’t be trying to enforce this stuff. It’s going to backfire, and it should have backfired. You’re seeing it now with a lot of people charged under those COVID mandates being acquitted.”“But especially when it came to a use of force, you could find yourself in a lot of hot water enforcing something that was unlawful. A lot of young guys did (listen) and I think that’s why they didn’t want me around anymore.”“Sure, educate people as much as you can but stop short of, for example, the incident in Calgary. I saw what happened with that fella in an outdoor skating rink and thought that’s over the top. It wasn’t something I was willing to enforce.”He referred to the December 2020 incident — that enraged both public and many police officers — when Calgary police threatened to taser a 21-year-old for playing hockey with a group of men and children.A bylaw officer was summoned by a good little community comrade 'Karen' who complained. Bylaw called police.An altercation erupted when two female cops yelled at the skater to get off the ice. He resisted yelling “I haven’t done anything wrong.”“Get on the fu***ing ground before I taser you,” one officer screamed, then unholstered and pointed her weapon. Video showed three knees from one officer when they got him on the ground.“I know there were a lot of members conflicted with enforcing these laws and would prefer to just let it go. I know I did. I didn’t enforce any mask laws or anything like that,” he said.Policing was his second career. The former Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) member served in many places including Bosnia and Africa.“I’ve seen a lot of the world where all they experience is censorship and propaganda. I thought that’ll never happen here. Clearly, I was wrong.”“When that COVID shot first rolled out, I never in my life observed that kind of censorship propaganda. Ever. That’s anywhere in the world. That’s where my BS meter started to go off.”Trying to force him to submit was futile.“I don’t put up with bullies. Right from when I was a young kid, I’d always stand up against bullies. Quite often I got the losing end of the stick. Injury aside, this kind of stuff has never phased me. I don’t care who it is. I may lose but I’m going to stand up for what’s right.”The COVID-19 response proved how weak and willing so many were to ignore Charter rights.“They say it should be the supreme law of the land, but it’s shown that at the slightest bit of fear-induced panic people completely toss that to the side.”“To completely ignore it and just bypass it with very little thought needs to be rethought, needs to be brought back to the drawing board. People’s individual liberty is a very serious thing. They’re just not doing that.”He singles out senior leadership of police services.“We’re the ones who are supposed to enforce those laws or make sure the law is followed. We didn’t. We went with what the politicians wanted. Politics is politics, but that supreme law of the land should be more heavily weighted than a whim, essentially.”“We need to balance that, not take the side of big pharma and politicians. We all know they can be bought and sold.”Police leadership must be “threatened with some sort of accountability.” Amends must be made.“I’d offer members their jobs back. I’d offer compensation for members that were (vaccine) injured. They deserve to be compensated big time.”“I don’t know a single person who died from COVID — I’m not saying that’s any sort of stat — but I can tell you about several people who experienced vaccine injuries.”The report by former regulatory investigator Natasha Gonek noted cases of COVID-19 “injury, illness and alleged death” to EPS employees are “growing with time.” Members are on short- or long-term disability due to COVID-19 vaccine injuries.“I look at some of these laws, specifically, the health laws, where they can circumvent things like the Charter very easily using some of these definitions that have changed over time, like pandemic. Essentially every flu season could be deemed a pandemic at this point,” he said.“I would definitely look at fail-safes to make sure this sort of thing could never happen again.”
