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.

The officer testified that Mr Dziekanski seemed to have an ‘intent to attack’, whatever the hell that means.  Mr. Dziekanski raised his hands over his head in a threatening manner while holding a stapler, apparently threatening to collate 4 strapping young officers.  I can certainly see why the Mounties would fear for their lives.  I work often with staplers and can attest to their status as a deadly weapon.  Offices across Canada lose dozens of employees yearly to stapler attacks.  It is no wonder that they felt compelled to kill the man.  It was kill or be killed.

The Mountie on the stand also testified that he considered the taser as a lesser level of force than the baton or pepper spray.  Two things are interesting here.  One is that force was the accepted solution to this situation.  There were other options available.  The taser was applied immediately after the officers arrived on scene.  Maybe they should have considered something other than force.  This is indicative of the problem of police in our society today of which more in a minute.  The second interesting aspect to this testimony is that when tasers were first issued to police in Canada the public was told that the device was a non-lethal alternative to the firearm.  That would suggest that tasers would only be used in those rare incidents where formerly police would have been forced to use their guns.  The Canadian public embraced their use on that basis.  While it was accepted that in some cases a taser might prove lethal it was only being used to avoid a weapon even more often lethal.  Under that assumption issuing tasers seemed prudent.  The number of times tasers have been used by officers since then clearly shows that either the initial justification was a lie or officers in the field were not properly instructed on when to use them. 

The hilarious sight of officers of our national police force squirming to rationalize and justify their behaviour in this incident aside, this is still a tragedy.  The Dziekanski family still has lost a loved one and likely questions the image of Canada that first drew them here.  What went wrong?  The problem is highlighted by the rush to force.  For centuries policing was done by the military.  When we created separate civilian police forces they retained that military culture.  Today in our more sophisticated and complex society such ham-fisted approaches are more part of the problem than the solution.  If the prevention and successful solution to crime is the goal of policing then a thorough re-evaluation of the training, education and necessary skill sets for police needs to be done. 

Police need to be more culturally aware and sensitive.  Canada is far more multicultural today than during my childhood.  With the richness immigrants bring to our country comes also their fears and understanding of a social order different from our own.  Mr. Dziekanski was alone, really alone.  Think of yourself after a very long flight to a foreign country.  You are tired and cranky after spending long hours packed in like a sardine.  Delays which are never explained to you keep  you only inches from your intended destination.  No one can or will even try to understand you.  You cannot communicate effectively with anyone.  You act out and slam a chair.  Suddenly you are confronted by four large, heavily armed uniformed males.  You come from a culture where the police are seldom your friend, even less often your friend than they are here in Canada if you can imagine that.  What do you do?  You raise your arms in defence, a bluff of bravado in hopes they will back off and not attack as you assume they will.  Instead the officers attack, just as you thought they would.  You struggle.  Weapons of great force are being applied to your body.  You muscles contort, you spasm as the electricity courses through you.  And for Mr. Dziekanski in the end you feel your life force slip away and you succumb to the embrace of death.  Could this have all been avoided?  Yes!  Were the officers properly trained and educated? No!  If they had been this would not have happened.  And if the police want to argue that they are trained to diffuse situations and deal with cultural differences, then they must charge these particular four officers with intentional homicide.  If they had the capacity to diffuse the situation and did not do so then they chose to attack Mr Dziekanski with the likely result (after multiple taser applications) that he would die.  That is murder and the four should spend 25 years in prison before being eligible for parole.  The police cannot have it both ways. 

Before a uniform and weapons are issued, a potential officer must be much better educated than is currently the case.  Psychology, sociology, multiculturalism, religion and ethics must be a large part of their curriculum.  No candidate should be accepted at the policy college until they have completed at least 4 years and preferably more of post-secondary education.  Each of the disciplines I have listed need to be taught in depth.  A cursory introduction to terms and concepts is not enough.  These individuals are going to walk the streets of our communities carrying the power of life and death on their hips.  Without the education I am calling for they are as much of a danger to all of us as the criminals they chase.  The entire paramilitary culture of policing needs to be retired and a new more open and less confrontation culture adopted.  A culture where force must be forced upon them.  If not we simply await the next Dziekanski and we probably won’t have long to wait.