RCMP – The Good and Bad Apples

I am very sick of people blaming the RCMP for doing everything wrong. Very rarely do you hear a word of thanks towards the RCMP in BC. Instead, all i hear is complaints and cruel things towards the BC RCMP.

Below is a link to the both sides of the story. I strongly believe the RCMP acted accordingly to the situation. The editor claims he was harassed and shared his views on the web and local newspaper complaining about it. Instead, he should’ve gone to the Sergeant of the detachment/unit and talk directly to him/her. He could also have gone directly to BC wide inspectors and the complaints board, etc. The way he published the paper makes himself look bad. The whole article was about the RCMP doing wrong things and abusing their power.

Later in the article, the reporter posts the reply from the RCMP towards the Osooyos editor. The post indicates all the wrong doing of the editor. The RCMP officer who conducted the traffic stop had every legal right to perform that traffic stop. Plus, there was a video recording taken from the dashcam on the police cruiser. The video has both audio and visual to it. The video proves that everything the editor said in his article is wrong. The officer did everything right.

This is a classic example of the people abusing THEIR power. The people, representing the residents that the RCMP serve Canada wide. The sooner Canadians have trust in their national police service, the sooner the RCMP can do their jobs properly without being in fear of being publically abused for doing exactly what they were trained to do.

Obviously there are the bad apples in the force. That goes with every police force. The difference is that the RCMP is Canada wide and a huge police force with a long and proud history. There are almost 30,000 RCMP officers Canada wide (including civilian members). There is bound to be at least a couple of members out of that huge number that are corrupted, abusive with their powers, etc. I don’t want that small number of bad apples to ruin the good ones. Imagine almost 30,000 members that work hard to protect and serve their community. They are not represented by that small number of bad members. I’m saying that you can’t represent the overall image of a police force, like the RCMP, on the small number of bad members. This doesn’t just go for police, but also for any kind of job.

Editors Article: http://bcreporter.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/osooyos-editor-slams-cops-after-traffic-stop-rcmp-threatens-to-release-video/

RCMP’s Response: http://bc.rcmp.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=50&languageId=1&contentId=24119#.TzSM4FQrSwQ.twitter