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Const. Andrew Hong

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Recently I have been doing some binge watching of a TV show called "Crime Beat". It is a Canadian show that features stories of past crimes in our country. I have yet to see an episode on a tragic event that occurred on September 12, 2022, and involved the murder of a Toronto Police officer. My interest comes from the fact that for many years I was a Chaplain with Toronto Police Service, meaning I got close to many officers over the years. This story is about the day when a cop was killed simply for wearing a police uniform. I would be involved in the aftermath simply because I made myself available, something I had learned to do a few years earlier during the Yonge Street van attack that killed 11 people. No police were killed on that day but the dead and injured bodies on those sidewalks affected many First Responders for years to come. Having one of your own killed, is a whole different level of trauma. I apologize in advance because much of what I write here involves my p...
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Yonge Street

If you live in or around Toronto you will remember what happened a year ago on Canada's longest road. The memory for many is more like a nightmare and for others a moment in time that Torontonians hope never happens again. An individual drove a van down the city's busiest street and killed 10 innocent people and injured 16 others. Yesterday was the one year anniversary of this tragedy but the truth is that many will live with the memories for the rest of their lives. As a Chaplain for the Toronto Police Service I attended the ceremony marking the tragic events of April 23, 2018. Back on that day it was actually the first nice day of the spring in Toronto so many people were out walking along the wide sidewalks of Yonge Street around 1:30 in the afternoon. Some were taking late lunches and others simply enjoying the first sign of warmer temperatures. They weren't expecting that anyone would be so full of evil that they would change everything in just over 5 minutes. The ...
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April 23-24

April 23-24, 2018 Those dates may not mean much to some of you who don’t live in and around Toronto but they were quite significant to the rest of us. For me personally I experienced the darkest aspects of police chaplaincy and yet aspects that define my role as a chaplain. Quite often my services are required when the life of another human being is being overwhelmed. Those days and actually that week, were one of those times. I have chosen to write about this without revealing any names because as a chaplain confidentiality is vital if you want to be trusted. Yet there is something in this story that touched me and highlights events that often cause Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in first responders. They also can’t help but touch those who help the first responders because we hear some gruesome details related with the job. On the afternoon of April 23 rd it was a bright sunny day that had hundreds of people out for a walk during the early afternoon on...
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