Const. Jeff Bartsch was the only Canadian police officer in a group of 100 police officers in the annual “Run to Remember”, held on Sunday in Los Angeles to pay tribute to police officers who died in the line of duty in 2017.
There were a total of 5,600 runners in total for the 21.1-km half-marathon race, which left from the famous Grove shopping area and toured historic L.A. and Hollywood areas.
“The run went very well,” said Bartsch on Monday, noting the weather was hot for him, ranging from 20 to 23C. “Everyone was curious about my presence and I made a lot of American partnerships.”
His purpose in L.A. was to represent three Canadian police officers who died in the line of duty in 2017, which for him was a huge honour.
Const. Bartsch will head south of the border later this year, as he and Const. Melinda Mintenko were invited to join a large group of U.S. law enforcement officers to run in uniform in Las Vegas for the 2018 Rock’n’Roll marathon on Nov. 10-11. This full marathon will combine both of his interests, to raise awareness of mental health awareness and to pay tribute to fallen officers.
The L.A. race was designed initially, three years ago, to honour the police officers and other first responders who responded to the scene of the bombing of the Boston Marathon. With his running to raise awareness of mental health issues, Const. Bartsch has quite a following on social media, including twitter and Facebook, and through that medium he was invited to come down and take part in the marathon to represent fallen Canadian officers.
Const. Bartsch partnered with the Police and Peace Officers Memorial Ribbon Society, also known as the Blue Ribbon Society, for the L.A. run, a group which developed a blue-and-black ribbon specifically to remember fallen police officers.
The three Canadian officers he represented included Const. John Davidson, who was shot and killed in November 2017 in Abbotsford, B.C.; Const. Frances “Frank” Deschenes, who died in September 2017 as he stopped to help a motorist change his tire; and Const. Richer Dubuc, who was killed in an accident in Quebec near the New York border in March of 2017.
“I’ve been to L.A. before, but not in this capacity,” said Const. Bartsch, adding this was a huge thing for Weyburn and the Weyburn Police Service to have a member representing the city in this run.
Asked how he feels to be doing this, representing three fallen police officers from Canada, Const. Bartsch said, “It’s very heart-warming, and this is a huge honour to be asked. I can’t even describe how that would’ve affected the family of a fallen officer.”
He noted he did represent a fallen officer last year who was a friend of his, and said, “It’s very humbling to be able to do that, and to represent a Canadian officer, it’s kind of overwhelming.”
The support from Weyburn has been very strong, said Const. Bartsch, both from the police department itself to members of the community, which he has seen whenever he has taken part in local events, such as the Weyburn Opportunity Road Race, which he ran in last year in full uniform.
The ability to raise awareness of mental health issues is very important to him, as for example, anxiety and depression are issues that most people deal with but don’t often talk out loud about with families or co-workers.
“It’s becoming something really big now. Things are changing, and it’s good to see,” he added.
To assist the families of the fallen officers, he raised money through the Canada.Helps.org web page, under fundraising for a charity, or else under www.memorial ribbon.org. Those interested can also follow him on twitter (@WPSCstBartsch), or on his Facebook page, Marathon Mental Health.
