A local police officer chose compassion over enforcement with man who stole his shoes.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
kking@medicinehatnews.com
Medicine Hat Police Services Insp. Brent Secondiak is encouraging Hatters to exercise compassion and empathy when faced with conflict, following an early morning theft of his personal property.
Secondiak says he woke Tuesday morning to find his work shoes missing from his front doorstep, replaced with a worn-out pair of shoes which did not belong to him.
“I have a camera system, so I went on my phone and checked and it look like just after midnight – about 12:50 a.m. – I noticed that a male had come to the front of my house and taken my shoes and left his in place,” Secondiak told the News. “I was kind of upset and, I guess, a little angry.”
Knowing he had to leave for work later in the day, Secondiak said he decided to drive around the neighbourhood and look for his shoes, in case they had been deposited somewhere. As he was driving, Secondiak says he spotted the individual captured on the security camera footage, wearing his shoes.
“I actually recognized him from work,” said Secondiak. “So, I pulled up to him, I rolled down the window, I called him by his first name and I said ‘Those are my shoes.’ He immediately hung his head in shame and just said ‘I’m sorry.'”
The individual, whom Secondiak chose not to identify, willingly returned the shoes. When asked why he had stolen them, the individual said he was in need of new ones, as his were old and had holes in them.
“I felt bad for him,” said Secondiak. “And he’s not a bad guy. He’s just has some personal issues that he needs to deal with … So I said, ‘Why don’t I get you a different pair of shoes?'”
When Secondiak spoke with the News on Tuesday afternoon, he had not yet been able to give the individual the new pair of shoes, but planned to drop them off that evening on his way home from work.
Secondiak says he was impacted by the interaction and chose to share it, not for recognition, but as a reminder for all people to be compassionate, even in stressful situations.
“We get lots of calls, especially in the warmer months, of property crimes,” said Secondiak. “I’ve heard lots of people that get angry when they have property stolen from the front yard, and I totally understand that. But, I think if you sometimes talk to the offender and show some empathy and show that you understand the story, rather than being angry and hateful and lashing out … you hear the true story on why people do things.
“I was quite mad at first, but when it was all said and done, I felt sorry for him. I thought, ‘you know what, I’ll get your shoes.’ (So) the moral of the story is, have compassion … Stealing is wrong, but hatred is worse.”
Secondiak said the experience was an especially important reminder for him as member of MHPS, as he often handles high-emotion situations in his line of work.
“I think as police officers, sometimes we get numb to these things because we deal with them so frequently,” he said. “Sometimes you can forget the human element of it. But, you know, I read reports every day on the wonderful small things that our officers do and this was just one thing that I did … And it’s a good wake-up call, learning lesson even for me, to realize that there’s always another side to the story.”
While Secondiak says he doesn’t condone criminal behaviour, he does encourage his officers to listen and show compassion – something he hopes community members will also undertake.
