To Serve and Protect
The long proud tradition of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has been sullied by incompetence, lack of adequate training, and a perceived lack of policing professionalism. From the inept and ultimately deadly incident at Mayerthorpe, Alberta, where four young RCMP officers were shot to death while conducting a raid on a marijuana grow operation, to a series of misadventures since then.
The case of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish would-be immigrant to Canada, which gained world-wide attention a case in point, a most unfortunate one, to the reputation of the RCMP. The three Mounties who confronted this man in October of 2007 at the Vancouver International airport, where he was disoriented and angry after a ten-hour ordeal of waiting to be processed and to meet his mother, acted in haste and now repent at leisure.
The three Mounties involved have suffered some degree of professional humiliation as a result of the trial currently ongoing which has revealed their stark level of incompetence in their failure to meet the needs of this rambling and confused man. That their first line of defence at a perceived lack of co-operation was to shoot 50,000 volts of electricity into his body speaks volumes about their lack of common sense.
This death could have been avoided. Yet the three involved claim there is nothing they would do differently, if the situation were to be repeated. And more's the pity, for they've learned nothing from the unfortunate situation which left a man dead. On that occasion it was someone other than an RCMP constable who lost his life.
On another occasion, now undergoing trial however, it was two Mounties whose lives were once, again, lost and the man accused of shooting them to death claiming during his trial for first-degree murder, that the officers had fired first, after ramming his vehicle, and smashing one of the vehicle windows, causing him to fear for his life.
"I felt like I was going to die. It was a matter of self-preservation," Curtis Dagenais claimed, testifying in his own defence. Regardless of the sequence of events, it's abundantly clear that the decisions made on this occasion lacked sufficient care and demonstrated the possibility that adequate training was lacking.
The thing of it is, we cannot afford to lose those precious lives. Not those to whom we entrust our safety and security and in whom we take such great pride, in an ongoing tradition of the proud red serge. Nor others, whose unfortunate decision making have led them to attract the attention of those whom we entrust with carrying out the letter of the law.
Perhaps in the final analysis, it is, once again, the commissioner of the RCMP, William Elliott, who should be put on the hot seat. It seems that RCMP commissioners of late have been occupying that seat, whether it's about the use of stun-guns, or incompetence of the kind that led to the resignation of Giuliano Zaccardelli in the Maher Arar case.
The case of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish would-be immigrant to Canada, which gained world-wide attention a case in point, a most unfortunate one, to the reputation of the RCMP. The three Mounties who confronted this man in October of 2007 at the Vancouver International airport, where he was disoriented and angry after a ten-hour ordeal of waiting to be processed and to meet his mother, acted in haste and now repent at leisure.
The three Mounties involved have suffered some degree of professional humiliation as a result of the trial currently ongoing which has revealed their stark level of incompetence in their failure to meet the needs of this rambling and confused man. That their first line of defence at a perceived lack of co-operation was to shoot 50,000 volts of electricity into his body speaks volumes about their lack of common sense.
This death could have been avoided. Yet the three involved claim there is nothing they would do differently, if the situation were to be repeated. And more's the pity, for they've learned nothing from the unfortunate situation which left a man dead. On that occasion it was someone other than an RCMP constable who lost his life.
On another occasion, now undergoing trial however, it was two Mounties whose lives were once, again, lost and the man accused of shooting them to death claiming during his trial for first-degree murder, that the officers had fired first, after ramming his vehicle, and smashing one of the vehicle windows, causing him to fear for his life.
"I felt like I was going to die. It was a matter of self-preservation," Curtis Dagenais claimed, testifying in his own defence. Regardless of the sequence of events, it's abundantly clear that the decisions made on this occasion lacked sufficient care and demonstrated the possibility that adequate training was lacking.
The thing of it is, we cannot afford to lose those precious lives. Not those to whom we entrust our safety and security and in whom we take such great pride, in an ongoing tradition of the proud red serge. Nor others, whose unfortunate decision making have led them to attract the attention of those whom we entrust with carrying out the letter of the law.
Perhaps in the final analysis, it is, once again, the commissioner of the RCMP, William Elliott, who should be put on the hot seat. It seems that RCMP commissioners of late have been occupying that seat, whether it's about the use of stun-guns, or incompetence of the kind that led to the resignation of Giuliano Zaccardelli in the Maher Arar case.
Labels: Canada, Human Relations, societal failures
posted by Pieface @ 6:34 PM
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