Vancouver police officers in Dallas to mourn fallen colleagues
5 VPD members are in Texas at the funerals of officers killed in last week's shooting
They want to show their support for fellow officers.
This week, five members of the Vancouver Police Department are in Dallas, Texas attending the funerals of their fellow officers south of the border.
Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael Smith, Brent Thompson and Patrick (Patricio) Zamarripa were shot last week in an attack during a Black Lives Matter protest.
Even though 3,500 kilometres separate the two cities, the Canadian officers feel the impact of the tragedy.
"When you have the people we have, doing the kind of work that we're doing ... and suddenly you see five police officers gunned down and murdered, it has a huge impact," said Tom Stamatakis, the president of the Vancouver Police Union.
"It creates a tremendous amount of stress for our police officers' families as well, who now worry about their loved one going to work every day."
Tensions in Canada
Signs that tensions between the police and the public in the U.S. have also reached Vancouver, in the form of graffiti.
Just this week, Vancouverites spotted "cops lives don't matter" spray-painted onto multiple downtown buildings.
"[Officers] start to question what they're doing and whether or not the work that we're doing is being appreciated," said Stamatakis.
VPD spokesman Const. Brian Montague said anti-police graffiti isn't new in Vancouver, but doesn't reflect most people's views of the force.
"The VPD has good relationships with all of the many diverse communities in Vancouver and we continue to build on those," Montague.
