Sask. Mental health concerns for police officers grow after Ontario officer’s death globalnews.ca

Two suspects are being charged with first-degree murder after Provincial Police Officer Greg Pierzchala of Hagersville, Ontario, was shot while responding to a vehicle in a ditch on Tuesday.

“It’s giving our officers a bunch of mental health issues,” said Casey Ward, president of the Saskatchewan Federation of Police. “You’re just thinking every day when you show up and put on your uniform, are you going home to your family?

“Too many officers have been killed in the line of duty in the last six months and this is just a trend we need to stop.”

Pierzchala is the fifth Canadian officer to be killed in the line of duty since Sept.

Ward said he is fortunate to have never lost a fellow officer in the line of duty, but he still recognizes and mourns the deaths of officers across the province.

Ward said, “There have been too many police funerals.” “It bears repeating that every day you go out and you don’t know what’s going to happen.

“I think it is starting to create problems with some of our police officers, particularly with their mental health. The level of violence we are seeing with our officers across Canada and within our province, Not only with police shootings but with attacks on police officers.

Court documents show Randall McKenzie, 25, and Brandi Crystal Lynn Stewart-Sperry, 30, are the accused.

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Two men have been arrested after an OPP officer was shot dead in Hagersville, Ontario.