(Prime Time Crime exclusive Dec. 14, 2006)
Jack's Folly
By Leo Knight
It would seem that Calgary Police Chief Jack Beaton is currently involved in something which can only charitably be described as "foolish."
According to news reports, Beaton has winged off to the People's Republic of China to try and recruit police officers for the City of Calgary. Fresh off a recruiting expedition to the UK which was described as successful, Beaton has now turned his eyes to the Far East to provide much-needed human resources. If there's one thing that communist China has in abundance, it's people.
I wonder if Jack knows the bulk of the population in China don't speak English. In fact, police in the PRC who speak English are few and far between. Those who can are supposed to wear a red tab on their uniform insignia to indicate that for tourists. In reality, those who can, don't, or won't, so they don't have to be bothered answering silly tourist questions. But, all of that is a side issue really.
To become a police officer in Canada, one has to go through a thorough background check to ensure one is not a security risk. How, pray tell, are the Calgary Police Service going to vet those officers who may express interest in leaving the suffocating confines of the PRC? Is he intending to ask officials with the Chinese national police to do it for him? I'm sure they wouldn't skew the results now would they? Does Jack seriously believe that the communist leaders wouldn't like to have a few trusted officers within a major Canadian police department with access to all manner of sensitive information?
And what skill-sets is he looking for? Graduates of Torture 101? Or Gonging the Falun Gong? Keeping the Peasants under the heel of your Jackboot - Level 2? Special credits given to anyone with service in Tiananmen Square during the democracy protests in 1989.
Then there's the corruption that is omnipresent in the national police service in the People's Republic and the insidiousness in which Organized Crime permeates all levels and aspects of business, life and government there.
One hopes the news reports of this trip are wrong or Beaton has mis-stated himself. If not, then he is either blithely ignorant, or plain stupid. Either condition is not suitable for the office of Chief Constable. On the other hand, it may be that he has gone to the PRC to learn for himself how the Chinese National police abuse the rights of its people in the event he may want to attack another citizen of Calgary who posts a website critical of his leadership.
Whatever the reasons, Beaton touring around China on taxpayer dollars is difficult to fathom considering there are plenty of issues in Calgary that require strong leadership. Ask Constable Shaun Horne, as he sits on the sidelines for a week without pay for doing nothing more than telling the truth.
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