As part of the North Bay Police Service 125 years celebration an honour guard marches to the Gateway Church on Marshal Avenue Sunday.
Bagpipes echoed through the Gateway Church on Marshal Avenue Sunday as the church honoured the North Bay Police Service (NBPS) by hosting a non-denominational service.
The service was part of the 125 year celebration of the NBPS and it honoured past and present police officers.
Ken Jeffrey, Gateway Church Pastor, organized the event saying that it is very important to celebrate the brave men and women who serve the community.
“We are honouring our police force because they need that and we need them as a community,” Jeffrey said.
“This is an awesome community to live in and we need to celebrate it and celebrate the people, who serve in our community,” he added.
The service also included a special remembrance to honour two fallen North Bay Police officers. Constable Fred Lefebrve and Constable Leonard Slater paid the ultimate sacrifice while serving the community. Sgt. Ron Burns of the NBPS read aloud the final accounts of Constable Fred Lefebrve on that fateful night of May 18, 1923.
“He was trying to apprehend one of Northern Ontario’s most dangerous criminals ever. His name was Leo Rogers and he shot him (Lefebrve) dead,” Burns read.
According to Burns, after chasing Rogers for two weeks, the police finally caught up to the notorious killer. Rogers was killed by a volley of police bullets.
“At the time Lefebrve was never suitably recognized. Today we are righting that by holding this memorial service in his honour,” Burns said.
Constable Leonard Slater was honoured by his fellow partner Sergeant Norm Shillington who sorrowfully expressed aloud the absence he felt about the loss his friend.
“As rewarding a policing career has been for me, I will never forget Constable Len Slater who put his life at stake doing his job; and paid the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty on December 1, 1973,” Shillington said.
“A wife and children lost a husband and father; and a friend lost a good friend,” he added.
A picture of Constable Leonard Slater hangs in the lobby of the North Bay Police Station and in Shillington’s office at Canadore College where he is a professor in the Police Foundations Program.
“I will always remember Len Slater, especially on December 1 of every year. Every time I pass Oak St. East parking lot, now the new bus terminal, I remember him,” Shillington said.
Scott Slater, Constable Leonard Slater’s son, was at the service honouring his father.
“He wanted to be a cop so much. It was his life to be a cop. He liked helping people and being there for them. He would have loved this service very much,” Slater said about his father.
Before the service began there was a special honour guard that marched from the fire station on Marshal Avenue to the Gateway Church. It consisted of a squad car leading a column of police officers and local politicians. Police chief Paul Cook, Mayor Vic Fedeli, Anthony Rota and Monique Smith were all part of the march.
“What you’re seeing today is the Christian community of the city just saluting you and honouring you and we didn’t have twist any arms,” Jeffrey said to the police officers.
