The RCMP are at it again. This time the Commissioner, while visiting Kandahar, told Canadians not to jump to any negative conclusions about the force because of recent scandals such as the Dziekanski case. ‘Walk a mile in my shoes’ he said comes to mind. Modern policing is very challenging, things are not always black and white and a situation can turn nasty quickly. All of that is true but it does not change the fact that a man died needlessly. Testimony at the enquiry continues to raise questions about the training and conduct of the officers involved.
The inquiry shows no indication that a life or death crisis existed at the time Mr. Dziekanski was killed. I am not jumping to conclusions. But I do admit a prejudice against people and organizations that exert maximum effort to deny and obfuscate their mistakes instead of owning up to them. Something went wrong at Vancouver airport that tragic day and we could have gotten to the bottom of it long ago and implemented corrective measure had the RCMP not dug in their heels, protected officers whose testimony varied, and generally tried to push off the blame on the victim.
If you want public respect, don’t insult our intelligence with the we know better than you defence and own up to your conduct.
As a side note of an even scarier nature, the Commissioner was in Kandahar because the RCMP will be training Afghan police. All I can say is the Afghan better keep their staplers holstered.
