"I have been shot at, seen a young girl die in my arms, have assisted in a birth and floated in a boat over the remains of 229 people at the Swiss Air disaster. I did my best, as did most of the people I worked with, yet it seems daily those with the power of the ink take every chance they can to sully past efforts."
Al Macintyre, April 22, 2012
WRITTEN by a disheartened former RCMP assistant commissioner, Al Macintyre's regret was included in the brief email exchange we had following my comments on TransLink policing.
When I read the letter I had two reactions, one after the other in quick succession.
The first was compassion for a recently-retired RCMP officer who was proud of his 40-year service record in the force.
My second reaction, although understanding why Macintyre was upset with endless bad-news coverage of the "rotten apples" within the ranks, was that he was shooting the messengers.
With no further policing stories planned, I decided to keep both thoughts to myself. What I hadn't counted on was the flurry of stories about alleged wrong-doing by still more police officers - not all of them in the RCMP.
So what are reporters and columnists to do? I deplore paparazzi-style journalism and the tendency of television newsrooms to play the same shock-content videos endlessly around the reel. Yet a democratic society cannot exist in the absence of uncensored discussion of community affairs, especially when it comes to the workings of government and of our systems of law and order.
Simply put, if we can't trust the police, who can we trust?
In that frame of mind, I finally broke down last Tuesday and suggested to Macintyre that failure to deal with whatever is ailing the Mounties is as hurtful and damaging to thousands of upstanding officers as it is to the citizens they serve.
Thus we come to the incident that triggered this unplanned column: the failure to deal appropriately with Staff Sgt. Don Ray, a member of the Edmonton RCMP detachment.
There is no need to repeat details of the disgusting behaviour of this now-demoted officer. Suffice it to suggest Ray's admitted-to on-thejob drinking and sexual acts would be cause for dismissal and criminal charges in most workplaces in the country.
So why does the RCMP think it is appropriate to stop short of such discipline in favour of docking Ray 10 days' pay, demoting him one rank and condemning him to exile in B.C., where several female officers are suing the force for the years of abuse they suffered in that same culture?
People are as right to question the judgment that led to that decision, as they are to decry the finger-pointing that ensued. Believing the Edmonton detachment lacks the authority to fire Ray and that the hands of EDivision commander Assistant Commissioner Craig Callens are similarly tied, the RCMP looked to Ottawa and Victoria for leadership.
Unfortunately for Callens - a third generation officer in the RCMP - because B.C. Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Shirley Bond has no authority either, she lobbed the ball to her counterpart in Ottawa.
Far from providing assurances to anyone looking for a made-in-Ottawa solution to the Ray file, federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, after trying in vain to leave the fumbled ball in the hands of Heritage Minister James Moore, finally announced that, sometime soon, he plans to table legislation to amend the disciplinary structure as currently set out in the RCMP Act.
Toews' promise, of course, came on the heels of the only leadership to be seen in the whole mess, an open letter to Canadians penned by mega-frustrated RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson (find it at www.rcmp-grc. gc.ca/index-eng.htm)
The letter outlines many of the problems and explains what is needed if the force is to have freedom to fix them.
Saying he is "trying to run a modern police force with a discipline system that was current 25 years ago," Paulson wants legislative changes to the structure so that "members' conduct can be properly managed and corrected," and so "rotten apples can be fired."
I'm confused. Four days before Christmas 2009, in its coverage of the "third [Vernon] Mountie in as many months to be arrested for impaired driving," CTV-B.C. quoted Macintyre as saying, ". . . this member will now face not only the criminal justice system, but also an internal RCMP Code of Conduct investigation where possible sanctions range from loss of pay to dismissal from the force."
So who has it right?
Macintyre who believed an officer could be terminated? Paulson and Callens who believe they are powerless to do better than transfer a demoted, short-paid deviant officer to B.C.? Toews who waited far too long to pick up the ball?
With his signature on that open letter, my vote goes to Paulson - even though hindsight suggests that, had his predecessor given the "messengers" Paulson-type information five years ago, much trauma might have been averted and people like Ray could have been stopped in their tracks.
British Columbians need to know where they stand before Ray arrives here, before the force is further embarrassed and certainly before any new 20-year RCMP contract is ratified - with or without its undisclosed clauses.
Decent members of the RCMP, male and female, deserve no less.
