Cst. Cst. Helen Grus Sworn: Ottawa Police Detective Career¶
Day 3 · 7:58:28 · Shawn Buckley · Cst. Helen Grus
- ⚖️ Cst. Helen Grus is sworn and prefers the title Detective; she is currently second-class after discipline.
- 👮 She has served since 2003: patrol, general investigations from 2007, SACCA (Sexual Assault Child Abuse) from 2016, and Robbery Unit detective since 2022.
- 👶 SACCA investigates all sudden unexplained deaths of children under five, partnering with homicide.
Introduction, oath, and career overview establishing her role investigating infant deaths.
← Closing Thanks to Drew Taylor Before Next Witness | Q&A: Did Infant Deaths Rise Pre-Vaccine or Only After? →
Transcript¶
Shawn Buckley · 7:58:28
So our next witness— are you still Constable?
Cst. Helen Grus · 7:58:34
Detective, as I like to say now.
Shawn Buckley · 7:58:36
Okay. Oh yes, well, that, that'll be part of the story.
Cst. Helen Grus · 7:58:39
Yes.
Shawn Buckley · 7:58:40
So just write that down. Second class. So our next witness is Cst. Cst. Helen Grus of the Ottawa Police Department. Helen, will you take the Bible in your right hand? So Cst. Cst. Helen Grus, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Speaker D · 7:59:03
I do.
Shawn Buckley · 7:59:05
Can you share with us, um, obviously everyone already knows that you're with the Ottawa Police Force, but can you share with us just a little bit of your history as a police officer?
Cst. Helen Grus · 7:59:15
Yes, I've been a police officer since 2003. I was hired on, I spent several years on patrol doing patrol things, you know, catching speeders and responding to 911 calls. In 2007, I moved into a general investigative unit where we investigate everything from shop theft to attempted homicide. It's a wide range of investigations, a lot of sudden deaths that we attend there. Because we catch everything that's not a homicide in our general investigations. 2016, I, I was, uh, moved into the Sexual Assault Child Abuse Unit. SACCA is the acronym. And I'm currently— I was there until 2022, and I'm— since 2022, I've been in the Ottawa Police Robbery Unit as a detective.
Shawn Buckley · 8:00:03
Right, yeah, you got moved out in 2022. But this unit that you moved into in, in 2017 Um, part of its responsibility would be investigating any unusual deaths, including baby deaths or infant deaths?
Cst. Helen Grus · 8:00:20
That's correct. So SACA, in that unit, the— it stands for Sexual Assault Child Abuse. So all sexual assaults and child abuse, and then all sudden, unexplained, unexpected deaths of children under 5 years old would come to our unit, and we'd partner up with one homicide detective and investigate those.
Shawn Buckley · 8:00:39
Right. So I think the important thing for people to understand is, is so it's your specific job to look into things like baby deaths that are unexplained.
Cst. Helen Grus · 8:00:52
Absolutely. We look into every single baby death that happens outside of the hospital or any sudden— police look into every death that occurs outside a hospital. In SAKA specifically, baby deaths up until children to 5 years old.
Shawn Buckley · 8:01:07
Okay. And, and that's— I mean, these are our most vulnerable people, and it would seem— it just seems to me that it makes sense to have a unit tasked to investigate, and, you know, unexplained baby deaths. If they're in the hospital, there's going to be a medical reason given. So, you know, some— any sudden death or, or unexplained death, a drowning, SIDS, whatever, you guys are investigating it to make sure make sure that there's nothing unusual happening.
Cst. Helen Grus · 8:01:35
That's correct.
Shawn Buckley · 8:01:36
Okay. Now, um, COVID hits.