Resolute Professional Integrity?

Well, where has it gone? Did it ever exist? Surely it did, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has had a long and esteemed history within Canada for keeping the peace on the national scene. Canadians were proud of our national police force, their history in the formation of the country, their tradition of representing the forces of good succeeding over ill-doing.

And when, as has happened too often recently, young RCMP officers lose their lives in the commission of their duties, the nation honours the force in general, and the loss hits us particularly hard. A life gone to waste, with all its youth and inherent promise never to be realized. A man performing his professional duties on behalf of all of us.

Yet increasingly, there have occurred instances where it appears clear that common sense has not been exercised in the fulfillment of those official duties from within the RCMP. The former unlamented Commissioner Zaccardelli who left his position in disgrace, and left also the headquarters in disarray, having shredded his credibility and that of his administration as well, leaving Canadians in a state of disbelief at the sheer stupidity of it all.

Now we've a fresh incident pointing a finger of accusation at a national police force that is not adequately training its recruits. A young officer on his first deployment shot dead within six weeks of completion of training. Might experience and the presence of an active partner have saved his life? Why then are trainees not sufficiently inducted into fully professional methods of law enforcement?

The question all the more needful of a response now that a distraught Polish immigrant deplaning in Vancouver has become the latest victim of the too-casual use of a taser gun. The man confused, with no English language skills at his command, waiting fruitlessly for an inordinate length of time for a relative to arrive at the airport, becoming frustrated and upset.

In his distraught state appearing as a possibly troublesome person to handle, within five minutes of having arrived at the airport scene four young RCMP officers decided in their great wisdom to immediately immobilize the man. No attempt at trying to discover what the problem might be, to make verbal contact through an interpreter, or even universal gestures leading to understanding.

Simply put, an instant end to what might turn out to be a half-hour of gentle calming. A quick decision to unleash a taser gun, and while the man was on the ground, in obvious pain, all four struggled to physically contain him, with one of the officers kneeing him strenuously on his chest, until the realization struck that the man was dead.

A tragedy, yet another useless, stupid decision leading to the death of an innocent.