Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Members of the Lennox and Addington OPP detachment joined detachments across Canada on Friday in taking part in a Memorial Run in honour of Cst. Heidi Stevenson.
Over 2,000 officers from various detachments coast-to-coast took part in a 5 km run. Stevenson, a member of the RCMP, was killed in the line of duty on April 19 while attempting to stop an active shooter in Nova Scotia.
“She wasn’t able to have a police funeral (due to COVID-19) so some of her colleagues have organized this run for Heidi,” said L&A OPP Cst. Shannon Cork, who helped organize the local run. “We’re doing it virtually and socially distanced. You can sign up and run from your house or from (Napanee’s police detachment).”
Lennox and Addington OPP gather outside of the Napanee detachment before departing on the 5 km Memorial Run. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
About 50 officers from L&A took part in the run, doing it in groups of 10 while socially distanced. Though Stevenson had no connection to L&A, the officers felt compelled to do something to honour their fellow officer. Money raised from the event will go to the Stevenson family.
“It’s very important for us as a police community to recognize when a member dies in the line of duty,” said Insp. Scott Semple, detachment commander for L&A OPP. “People sometimes criticize the scope of a police funeral. But it is something that draws a lot of attention and it’s important for officers to support the family and each other at a time when someone’s given their life for the community like she did. They weren’t able to do that. This is a way for us to show our support to the family and to the RCMP.”
It’s been reported that when Stevenson spotted the shooter in a car detailed to look like a police cruiser, she intentionally rammed the car head on. That heroic act disabled the shooter’s car and is believed to have saved countless lives, as the shooter had used the car to lure some of his victims to pull over before opening fire.
As one final tribute, when the runners returned to the Napanee detachment, they completed 23 push-ups, one for each year Stevenson served on the force.
“Fortunately for us in Canada it doesn’t happen very often. But when does officer does lose their life, it’s very important for us to come together and even support the community in Nova Scotia,” added Semple.