Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 12, 2007

HAY RIVER - The widow of an RCMP officer killed last month in Hay River wants a complete end to Mounties responding to calls alone.

"For every call, there should be two officers," said Jodie Worden. "I know right now the resources are limited and that may be difficult, but it needs to be done sooner rather than later."

Jodie Worden: "I was shocked and then I was saddened and then I was furious."

Her husband, Const. Christopher Worden, was shot and killed in the early morning hours of Oct. 6 while on duty alone.

The RCMP is not doing enough through its policies to protect officers, because they're not mandating two people on every call, Jodie Worden said. "They're still leaving it up to the discretion of the officer, and that has to be eliminated entirely."

Worden is speaking out both because of her husband's murder and the Nov. 5 killing of Const. Douglas Scott in Kimmirut, Nunavut. Scott was also alone on duty.

"I was shocked and then I was saddened and then I was furious," Worden said of her reaction to Scott's death.

She believes such tragedies will keep happening until things change.

A new back-up policy will be going to the RCMP's senior management for approval on Dec. 3.

Right now, the policy is more than one member goes to certain calls, such as domestic disputes, but the need for back-up on many calls is left to an officer's discretion.

Worden is worried the RCMP may just set different criteria of what type of calls must be answered by more than one member, instead of banning officers from responding alone to any call. It need not take more members dieing in order for that to happen, she said. "It needs to be done now."

Worden believes she is expressing the feelings of many Mounties who are not able to talk publicly on the issue.

"I've gotten a lot of feedback from different members by e-mail and phone saying that they believe the exact same thing that I do," she noted.

And, Worden intends to keep speaking out.

"This isn't just going to stop now," she said. "I'm only 29. I've got a lot of fight in me and I want to see change, the sooner the better."

She will be watching for the new RCMP policy, she added. "If it's not what I think it should be, then I'm going to continue to talk. It's not going to stop."

She has already met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss her concerns.

Worden said she and her late husband talked about answering calls alone. "We spoke about it while we lived in Whati, because that is a two-member post there," she said. "It always has been a concern and an issue, but now that this has happened I just hope that it's actually taken seriously and the people in Ottawa will look at it and examine what can be done."

Worden believes one reason decisions on going alone should not be left up to officers is they often feel they can handle calls on their own.

"It's not until they get out there that they realize the situation is different than what telecom had told them initially that it was, and then it's already too late," she said.

Her late husband was very confident in his skills as a police officer and she was also, Worden said. "But when you have situations where there are guns or there is someone there that is more violent than what you're used to, it can just escalate like that."

Worden said Mounties also often respond alone when they are on call during the night because they don't want to disturb other officers.

"They would rather let the other member sleep and have a good night's rest than call them up to go out," she said. "So that's why it should be mandated that they're not allowed to make that decision. They need to take two in the beginning."

Worden also expressed concerns about staff shortages in Hay River and elsewhere, noting the salaries of new members in Hay River could be paid for by a reduction in overtime at the short-staffed detachment.

Worden said her husband's death may not have happened if there had been two officers on the scene.

"They, the criminals - react differently when there's more of a police presence," she noted.

Plus, she noted another officer could have returned fire.

There are a lot of possible and safer scenarios with two officers, she said. "You can't automatically presume that there would be two dead police, as a lot of people presume."

Worden also expressed dismay that five people either saw the foot chase or heard shots when her husband was killed, but no one called police.

"It's so frustrating for me, because I'm a very proactive person," she said. "Citizens need to be proactive. They just can't complain after things like this happen."

Worden and her infant daughter, Alexis, are still residing in Hay River.She will return to her teaching position at Diamond Jenness Secondary school when her maternity leave ends in late January.

At the end of the school year, she is planning to move to Ottawa.