Wednesday, June 23, 2010

RCMP under fire



Two recent inquiries have come out slamming the RCMP that seem to contradict each other. I've spoken about the taser incident at the airport before. I don't think they should have tasered him especially that many times AFTER he was on the ground but don't think criminal charges are in order. Now all of a sudden some new report finally comes out with some break though conclusions.

Wait a minute. There's been no new information come out. We all saw the video and we all knew about leaked e-mails that implied the officers were responding to the situation and asked for authorization to taser him. Asking for authorization to taser the guy is different then going in there ahead of time with the intent of tasering him but even if they did discuss it before hand it just makes sense.

It's at an airport. Some guy is freaking out and threw a chair at a window. He is not responding to calm negotiations. The RCMP have been called in to resolve the situation. The tragedy was he didn't speak English and was panicking after being detained for hours on end with no interpreter in sight.

There was a similar situation with a much different outcome in the movie with Tom Hanks called the Terminal. Because Tom Hanks was able to speak the guy's language in the movie, a potential violent situation was effectively diffused. The taser death was a very unfortunate accident and I'm sure we have all learned from it.

Now the RCMP are taking the heat for Air India. That is nonsense. The judge's let the bombers away with murder not the RCMP. Kim Bolan covered that in her book, Loss of Faith. We need to reform our judiciary. We don't need to revise an absurd unpatriot act in Canada simply because Operation Northwoods was real.

CBC put out a documentary called Mounties under fire. Clearly there are many struggles within the organization that need to be addressed. Yet the historical quest for law and order is sound and noble. Paul Gross left us that in the series Due South.

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