Fallen officer focus of Facebook

Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: October 19, 2010 7:00 PM
Social networking is key to an effort to recognize a Vernon police officer killed in the line of duty. Mike Mannella has launched a Facebook group called Remember Glen Evely in honour the auxilary RCMP officer who died in November 2004 when the police cruiser he was riding in was struck by a stolen truck on 30th Avenue downtown.  The committee that oversees the Canadian Police and Peace Officers Memorial in Ottawa has refused to add Evely’s name because he was an auxiliary officer. Mannella believes that is wrong.  “Volunteer or paid, he made the ultimate sacrifice,” said Mannella, an auxiliary police officer in the Toronto area.  Mannella says there shouldn’t be a difference between career and auxiliary officers when they are on the job because they are serving the public.  “There is a danger to us just as there is to them,” he said.  “It’s unfortunate that someone is not recognized because they aren’t paid.”

The memorial committee consists of representatives from the Canadian Police and Peace Officer’s Memorial Association, the Canadian Police Association and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.  Mannella’s Facebook group was created a week ago and membership has already reached about 100.  “I hope to get it into the thousands and to connect people across the country,” he said.  “I hope to put pressure on the memorial committee to change its criteria. If it takes years, something has to happen.”  Mannella points out that the committee has changed its criteria for recognition before and he doesn’t understand why Evely and other auxiliary officers are being treated differently at this time.
“It’s just the right thing to do,” he said of recognizing Evely.  Mannella is also promoting Evely’s case through The Blueline, a magazine for Canadian law enforcement.  The RCMP have requested three times that Evely be added to the national memorial but the committee that oversees the monument has refused.
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Don Quixote Note:
http://www.surreyauxiliary.org/petition/   As of Oct. 20, 2010 16087 people have signed an ONLINE Petition.  Please sign this petition at the same time you indicate your support on the New Facebook Page.