Are RCMP members watching too many U.S. reality cop shows? I can’t help wonder that in the face of what seems to be growing violence … by the RCMP themselves: directed against the citizens they are supposed to protect … yes, even loud, ranting protestors have rights.
We do live in a democracy. The right to protest is not only a valid manifestation of our freedom; it is an essential element of it…. even for those you might regard as “anarchist wackos” … as long as they do not turn violent themselves.
But I believe we have been seeing too many cases where the RCMP have disrespected that right, moving in with truncheons and violence to break up protests far too fast., even without valid reason to do so in a democratic society.
Remember the RCMP attack on protestors at the Vancouver APEC summit? In my view, the RCMP became totally out of hand. And the Commission for Public Complaints ruled the Mounties used “excessive and unjustified force” to disperse protestors in Quebec City at the Summit of the Americas.
Civil liberties groups have also accused the RCMP of “inappropriately” firing plastic bullets against protestors at the Security and Prosperity Summit in Montebello, Que. ”even though there was nothing to indicate that they, or other citizens, were in danger.” They also charged the RCMP and/or the Quebec Police “disrupted the ability of citizens to legitimately assemble” at the Summit.
The point to remember here is NOT whether we agree or disagree with the views of these various protestors: as Canadians living in a free and democratic soceity, it is our DUTY to defend the rights of these protestors to speak up.
Which brings me to the RCMP actions against protestors just this past weekend at the University of British Columbia … against those objecting to plans for development of a large underground bus loop complex.
From the video I saw on television, it certainly appears police (and firefighters) over-reacted as students tried to stop them from putting out a small bonfire they had been marching/dancing around in a totally open area. The demonstration did not appear to be getting out of control, and no property nearby seemed in danger or was even being threatened.
But police made an arrest, escalating the situation instead of diffusing it by talking to the group, as I believe they would have just a few years ago. The arrest ultimately turned the protest into a major confrontation, turning the whole situation into scenes I have seen so often on AMERICAN television.
In the end, 19 were arrested …. and now another million dollars or more of taxpayers’ money may go down the drain as police, prosecutors, (possible) legal aid defence lawyers and the courts waste their time dealing with cases the RCMP should have and I believe could have defused in a a lot cheaper and more civil manner.
Police using force and violence before adequately exhausting all other alternatives is the American way (just watch Dallas Swat on TV). But I sense the RCMP is now too quick also to use violence.
Look at their use of tasers. The Robert Dziekanski case at Vancouver airport ( using the taser 25 seconds after they arrived to see what was happening!) and leading to his death should scare all of us.
Could YOU be next if you simply get into an angry confrontation with an airline or baggage official? No? Don’t be so sure, in a review of 563 cases in which the RCMP used tasers, more than 79 per cent of those zapped with the 50,000-volt weapon were not brandishing any kind of a weapon!
I believe it’s another example of the Americanization of the RCMP attitude towards our citizens and the use of violence/weapons against us. Maybe it’s even fun for then to use their new toy … but I believe they are using it FAR too many times. Whatever happened to the patience they used to have (and of which many of us were so proud) in talking down difficult situations?
It should be a new rule of the RCMP: members should swear an oath NOT to watch American cop shows, even off duty. Before policing in Canada … and the attitiude of the police to their fellow citizens … becomes identical to policing in the United States.
2 responses so far ↓
1 connie // May 5, 2008 at 5:13 am
Note: my views need to be read in the light of my being the mother of two cops and that policing was my beat.
I believe every international military or para-military organization apes the Americans. They are the Romans of our day. Like it or not, Americanization is going to happen. And for that reason, it needs to be examined by the RCMP and all other police and peace officer agency in Canada so that the needs of Canadians can be served as they should.
By necessity, the majority of the facts must be kept from the public to preserve the integrity of the case. This also applies to police procedures. That said, I agree that of late, the RCMP have shot themselves in the foot on numerous occasions . But, it is far too much of a generalization to say Americanization is to blame. I don’t think that is the source of the RCMP’s problems. Leadership and discipline seem to be weakened in cases I have observed. My biggest concern for the force is that the rank and file cannot easily depend on their leadership. Weakening of the leadership and a seemingly lack of judgement on behalf of the officers in charge appear in many cases reported by the media. Actions by the higher ranks are not comparable to the same when I was following the RCMP closely. There are too many incidents where the guys in the field are left undefended due to questionable leadership. There are seven dead mounties to show that to be true. Top and bottom have to know what the other is doing and thinking and that doesn’t always seem to be happening.
Something has gone very wrong in the leadership from detachment head to Ottawa headquarters. I ‘m not sure I would confidently put my trust in the RCMP as I once would have done. The serious problem is that I don’t think they can either and that is serious.
Tasers are a whole different story. The public asked for a ’safe’ step before use of lethal force. We got tasers. I think the company has sold us a bill of goods. They aren’t safe and their proper use isn’t always taught. I can’t lay blame in the apparent Vancouver airport failure yet. We don’t know what they saw or heard or why they acted. We can’t know know why the RCMP acted when and as they did. We can’t judge without knowing what they observed. But we must be told the minute the inquiries conclude. We know there are escalating steps of force: talking, batons, spray, tasers and guns. But they aren’t all used in order as we believe. A cop must judge and act. You can’t stop to talk to a guy who is drawing a knife or a gun or otherwise indicating he has accelerated to a very dangerous point.
There is a rumour Rick Hillier may be appointed commissioner. For the sake of the RCMP and those they serve, I sure hope so. Policing is as hazardous as it gets. We need a leader who can organize, discipline, lead and most of all look out for the troops. Hillier can do that. Meanwhile, can we blame a cop who defends himself when he knows his back isn’t being watched as it should be?
2 Greg Amos // Dec 20, 2008 at 7:57 pm
“We fret about each incident, but ignore the pattern,” said Crawford Killian in a Nov. 2007 article in the Tyee on why the RCMP needs to be disbanded.
The individual infractions are troubling enough, but the consistency with which each internal investigation is dragged out, while providing as few details as possible, should be cause for Candians to demand improvements to the force’s transparency.
Having police forces conduct their own investigations is like having forest companies overseeing their own environmental compliance. Allowing self-regulation is the mark of a weak government.
Under Mulroney, the Commissioner of the RCMP became linked to the Deputy Minister to the Solicitor General. I’m not clear on the nature of that relationship, but it likely led to the politicization of the force.
Most RCMP officers are good men and women just trying to do the jobs. They’re not to blame; it’s the structure of the organization that needs revamping.
And as bad as the RCMP are, they’re a step up from the BC Provincial Police (disbanded in 1950), who frewquently answered to the whims of local politicians.
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