**Trigger Warning**

This episode discusses the topic of a bank robbery and shooting where 2 people died and multiple others were seriously injured, some of the content may be distressing to the listener.  This series of episodes was created with the objective that talking about the subject could in part provide the listener with more information about the event from many different perspectives.  It could also provide the police officers, their families and others that were involved with an avenue to come forward and talk about their experiences and to encourage others suffering from mental or emotional distress to seek trauma support by reaching out to a professional or an advocate.

On this episode we hear from Tom Stamatakis, Executive member of the Victoria City Police Union (VCPU).  Tom describes his day from 1 year ago and goes into some of the work done by the Union after all critical incidents.  On this day, Tom was also deployed with a surveillance team when his day was interrupted by news of the shooting.

Upon returning to police headquarters Tom describes a state of shock he observed on police officers’ faces as he walked down the hallways.  Many police members needed the support of the Union in the IIO Investigation; the transition from wondering how your colleagues were doing to becoming a helpful witness is critical to a successful investigation.

Sound editing done by Todd Mason.

More about the Victoria City Police Union (VCPU):

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- Email us at [email protected] for any media inquiries or requests to be on the True Blue Podcast