(This column was published in the North Shore News on Apr. 28, 2004)
Cops aren't supermen
By Leo Knight
THERE is an element out there that revels in it anytime some police officer bumps his head.
They are quick to call for charges and firings if a cop proves to be human.
Well, cops aren't supermen. They put their pants on one leg at a time just like everyone else.
All too often, we expect them to be supermen. When our homes or vehicles are broken into, there's a tendency to blame the cops. We make fun of them for hanging around doughnut shops yet oddly forget there is nothing else open in the middle of the night where they can stop and take the same coffee break you take, at a time of night when you are tucked up in bed, safe in the cocoon of your family.
There's no question that police officers need to be held to a higher standard than most of the rest of society.
We expect them to be above reproach in act and deed lest they pay forfeit with their jobs.
Such is the case with the two North Vancouver Mounties who were fired last week for the grievous offence of inappropriate usage of departmental computers and e-mail.
This newspaper called them "rogue cops" and the lead editorial in this paper on Sunday said they should be fired and called them "idiots."
Well, I can assure you these two individuals are not idiots. This is not to say they did not engage in stupid activity. They most certainly did.
They used inappropriate language in e-mails between each other and, without question, they used terminology that would need to be heavily censored were I to replicate it verbatim in this space. But should they have paid forfeit with their jobs?
The senior management of the RCMP certainly thinks so, as does the editorial opinion of this newspaper.
But, I disagree.
The car-to-car e-mail capability within the RCMP is only around a year and a half old. Neither officer had in their field training any reference to it. Does that excuse the communications? Certainly not.
But, to pay with their jobs for things that are said around the locker room, in the doughnut shop or in the interminable court waiting rooms every day? That does seem a little like the thought police are working overtime.
The three wise men from that bastion of political correctness, Ottawa, who came out to sit on the tribunal judging the two North Vancouver members, said the e-mails were "racist and directed to community members."
But, a police force psychologist who examined the two officers found "no evidence of pathology and no evidence of misogyny or racist attitude."
So, what this really means is that the officers were saying things they really didn't believe and the sitting commissioned officers said it didn't matter. They crucified them for saying or thinking things that didn't fall within the bounds of what the politically correct masters in Ottawa say is appropriate.
And, more to the point, inherent in the decision is the fact these two police officers coloured outside of the acceptable lines.
Central to the whole thing is that both members slept with the same woman, another member, who apparently was offended at some of the things being said about her. And so did at least two other members of the same squad. So, despite the multiple notches in her bedpost, two of whom had some derogatory things to say about her in e-mails, she is somehow a victim in this?
But, at the end of the day, was what was being sent via e-mail any different from what is said in locker rooms, doughnut shops, across desks or at the bar after work by cops everywhere?
No, it wasn't.
How many of you have sent or received salacious e-mails, inappropriate jokes or complained to a colleague about a boss or another colleague on company e-mail?
Hmmmm, all of you? Yes, it's true, isn't it?
Because that is all these two have done. Reading their e-mails, it's easy to say they were stupid. And they were. But, who among us is without this type of sin?
Did you ever think your boss was an expletive deleted for assigning you to yet another apparently useless assignment?
Did you ever engage in salacious gossip about a co-worker who seemed to be working their way through the beds of co-workers?
Have you ever said in frustration, "I'm going to hit or smack or choke so and so?"
Of course you have. Because you're human and occasionally stupid. But when the rubber hits the road and you're required to do your job in a professional manner, you do.
And so it is with these two police officers who have been fired for broadcasting their human traits electronically through e-mail to each other in conversations meant for each other.
Should we excuse it? No. But we should recognize it for what it is and not allow political correctness to be the final arbiter.
In a letter to the editor a serving Police Officer added insight into the day to day working environment:
RCMP firings not necessary
Dear Editor:
I would like to comment on the publicity around the recent firing of two North Vancouver RCMP officers.
I have been a member of a large police department for approximately 15 years and would like to emphasize that the views expressed here are mine and not necessarily those of the department.
The public forgets that RCMP officers work alone. Apart from interaction with other members at parade, the only way these officers can communicate with one another during their 12-hour solo shifts is via the computers in their vehicles.
Furthermore, the public forgets that the police are expected to deal with everything and everyone that the public cannot or does not want to deal with. When the public is running away from situations, it's the cops that are expected to be running in.
The public does not realize that the e-mails sent between the North Van Mounties is a convenient form of harmless (albeit childish) banter between friends working alone and an outlet for a stressful job.
Mike Chan
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