The murder of a peace officer five years ago has changed how the MD of Foothills operates, but a fatality inquiry heard steps need to be taken to protect men and women in the same job across the Province.
The fatality inquiry into the death of MD of Foothills peace officer Rod Lazenby ended with submissions from lawyers, peace officer association representatives and Lazenby’s sister, Robyn Halbert, asking for changes to provincial legislation.
“If they are in the field they should definitely have the tools to deal with the situation,” Halbert said.
Lazenby was ambushed, beaten and killed in a Quonset at a rural Priddis property Aug. 10, 2012 by Trevor Kloschinsky, who was operating an unlicensed dog breeding facility.
Kloschinsky believed Lazenby and the MD were plotting against him, stealing his dogs and impounding them.
On the day Lazenby was killed he had no baton, dog or bear spray, body armour or handcuffs.
Lazenby was hired as a community peace officer level 2 (CPO2), which meant his employer (the MD) could apply for him to carry a baton, but not pepper spray. He also could have used body armour and handcuffs, but was not issued them. Lazenby had access to use 911 dispatch, but it was discretionary and he did not check in with dispatch when he arrived at Kloschinsky’s residence.
Level 2 community peace officers cannot carry pepper spray.
Susan Wall, president of the Alberta Municipal Enforcement Association, asked a new classification for administrative CPO2 be divided into administrative and field officers.
She said those with enforcement duties, such as animal control or property inspections should be mandated to have some weapons and safety training and should wear body armour and have handcuffs.
Currently, it is up to their employers to determine what level of training, communication methods and weapons their CPO2 officers have.
“Mental health, drug and other intoxicants, stress and even anti-government attitudes all come into play when law enforcement officers have contact with an individual,” she said. “De-escalation doesn’t always work and when physical force is required to defend an officer, these officers currently don’t have the training or equipment needed to help themselves or the communication systems to have assistance rendered by other officers.”
Other recommendations made at the inquiry include annual weapons recertification (current policies require it every three years), allowing CPO2 officers to apply to carry pepper spray and mandating them all to carry a baton and handcuffs and to wear body armour. A standardized province-wide communication system between police and peace officers was another recommendation.
Darlene Roblin was a community peace officer level 1 when Lazenby was killed and is now protective services co-ordinator for the MD of Foothills. She said since Lazenby’s death the MD has made extensive changes to its policies, including mandatory contact with 911 dispatch, mandatory safety training and annual recertification. A flagging system for properties where there has been a threat or concerns has been created that officers must check before going to a site. Any flagged properties require the attendance of two officers. Site inspections at properties where enforcement is required now require two officers.
“I’m making sure these policies are being followed because the very worst that can happen, happened and we don’t want that to happen ever again,” she said.
However, she said other municipalities haven’t made similar changes and aren’t required to.
“When you look at smaller municipalities some (municipal enforcement) supervisors have zero law enforcement background,” she said. “For the Province to say to employers what is the safety needs of your officers is not fair to ask of them.”
Roblin said she often hears from other peace officers who request safety or weapons training and are told by their employers it isn’t necessary or they can’t afford it.
Roblin said the MD of Foothills municipal enforcement supervisor at the time of Lazenby’s death, Geoff Carpenter, was treating the CPO2 officer and MD bylaw officer differently than CPO1 officers. CPO1 officers were following policies and procedures they created for themselves, Roblin said. Those policies weren’t being applied to Lazenby and the bylaw officers, she added.
“Rod was treated completely differently,” she said.
Lazenby and the bylaw officers were subject to MD policies, such as the work alone policy, but many of the guidelines in the policy were at the discretion of the officer, Roblin said.
Carpenter could not be subpoenaed to testify at Lazenby’s fatality inquiry because he is living in the U.S.
Lazenby’s family said they were disappointed they didn’t hear from Carpenter.
“We did feel there was a lack of supervision, a lack of leadership,” Halbert said.
They wanted more information about what happened leading up to Rod’s death, but Halbert said they did not want it to become a distraction from the bigger issues, like how the community peace officer program operates across Alberta.
Judge Bruce Fraser will prepare a report that could include recommendations to prevent a similar situation in the future.
“We have heard these recommendations are like suggestions,” Halbert said. “So we are hopeful we are going to get some good recommendations and we are very hopeful they will be enacted.”
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