Deadly Doright

In a startling move (hah), our nation's national police force has determined that their most effective course of action, to deal with the heavily viewed murder committed by their officers, is to enact the Catholic defense. With all of the regard for the safety and well being of the community made famous by the pedophile enabling hierarchy of the Roman church, the suspect officers have simply been re-assigned. Because their propensity for unwarranted violence will vanish when they are out from under the maddening glare of the airport fluorescents. CTV gives RCMP Commissioner William Elliot a platform from which to heave a spinning crap-jet of obfuscation,

"Elliott said he was compelled to speak on the issue after high-quality footage of the incident was released to the media.
"I recognize . . . that the RCMP cannot provide effective policing services without the support of the communities we serve, and I am concerned that growing misperceptions are eroding the public's confidence in the RCMP," Elliott wrote in a statement."

Yes. He felt compelled to speak after the original pack of lies presented to the public were blasted to rat-shit by the clear and public evidence of the video. And while he might recognize that the RCMP can't provide effective policing services without public support, I would add that they can't provide effective policing services when their officers resort to violence as a first option. They can't provide effective policing when they kill more citizens that the criminal class does. And for fuck sakes Mr. Commissioner, get this through your kevlar plated skull, the erosion of public confidence has nothing to do with misperceptions. The erosion of confidence has everything to do with killing a man on camera. The erosion of confidence has been earned by the actions and attitudes of the force you represent and the lies your offices have told to cover their tracks.

Commissioner Elliott, you and your forces have done something long thought nearly impossible. You have managed to unite the extreme left wing and the extreme right wing as well as the moderate left, the moderate right, the centrists and the politically apathetic in common cause. We are all disgusted by the actions of the officers in this video. Given that your spokespeople went to the media and brazenly lied to the public about this incident, we have little cause to trust you. Given that you tried to suppress the video evidence and that the tape was only returned to the owner under threat of a law suit, we have less cause to trust you. Given that there is a growing history of incompetence and over reaction, leading to physical harm and death at the hands of your officers, including the lethal use of Tasers, we have not much in the way of cause to trust you. You have spent the credibility and trust that the public of Canada afforded to you on credit. You have also disgraced the reputation of this nation in the eyes of our peers around the globe. Indeed sir, it is not an erosion of confidence, it is the withdrawal of a trust, freely given and sorely abused.

Commissioner Elliott continues,

"I would like to make clear that this incident is being treated very seriously by the RCMP, up to and including by me as commissioner."
However, Elliott went on to defend the use of Tasers, saying they were "less likely to cause serious injury than other tactics."

Yes, yes. Very serious treatment indeed. Why my goodness, we'll have a hearing or something and we'll trot out some brassy looking folks to put on a tap dance of insincere sympathy. And the whole fucking time, Mr. Commissioner, the officers that killed an innocent man on camera, the officers that chose to deploy firepower within less than half a minute, the officers that took a man's life and made no effort what so ever to render help...those same officers are still drawing a paycheck on the public dime. The extent of the repercussions for those officers is re-assignment. They remain active, they are still armed and they are still at large. Commissioner Elliott, with all due respect sir, your idea of serious treatment is a very long way from realistic. The world is watching you and you are pissing on our shoes, insisting that it rains in Vancouver.

As for the defense of the Taser as a weapon that is, "less likely to cause serious injury than other tactics", well fuck that sir. Tasers kill people. Tasers kill people with some frequency. You want a tactic that would not have killed the unfortunate Mr. Dziekanski, how about keeping your rocket stick in your pocket and defusing the situation instead of ramping it up. The only threatening and violent people in the video were your officers. They behaved like a street gang, they swarmed their victim, attacked him with high voltage weaponry, crushed him under the weight of four large men and then they left him for dead. Under any other circumstance, strip away the badges, and this would be prosecuted as a gang slaying. You have lost control of your officers sir, that speaks to a culture of incompetence from the top down.

Any bartender worth a ten per cent tip could have dealt with Mr. Dziekanski without resorting to any level of violence, let alone the fatal violence your boys chose. Tasers are too easy to draw, given the marketing line that they are non-lethal or less lethal and that is simply unacceptable. It is quite apparent that the public employees wearing the once revered uniform of the RCMP are neither sufficiently trained nor mature enough to carry such weapons. Your insistence, Commissioner Elliott, that the Taser is a valid weapon in the wake of recent events, speaks to your failure sir. If Mr. Harper and Mr. Day want to put forward a law & order agenda, the first thing they need to do is clean house, your house Mr. Elliott.

"Elliott said there were several investigations underway to examine the circumstances around Dziekanski's death:
• A comprehensive probe by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team in B.C., made up of members from the RCMP and four separate police forces;
• An inquest by the B.C. Coroner's office;
• An independent investigation by the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP is conducting; and,
• An internal investigation by the RCMP into how officers should use the Taser."

Not fucking good enough. Period.

"NDP public safety critic Mike Farnworth told CTV Newsnet said he was shocked by the footage and there are many questions surrounding the incident that need to be answered."

Yes, go on...

"Farnworth is calling for more clarification on the role of Canadian Border Services and the Vancouver International Airport Authority during Dziekanski's 10-hour detention in a secure area of the airport."

Damn straight. There's plenty of blame to be shared out among the principal actors in this tragic farce. There are more than a few persons whose jobs should be in jeopardy and who share in some culpability for the death of an innocent man.

"He is also recommending a special prosecutor to be independently appointed under the B.C. Crown Counsel Act.
"The assistant deputy attorney-general has that authority that would either assist or lead in the investigation so that it would seem to be independent, open and transparent," Farnworth said."

Yes. It is not acceptable to me or to anyone that I have spoken to, for the police to investigate themselves in this matter. The suspect officers should be on suspension pending the outcome of such an investigation and there should be charges laid and prosecuted at every level of failure and responsibility.

To the citizens of the world, I would recommend you hold off on booking flights into Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics until we can manage to put our house in order. We, the citizens of Canada, would hate to see another such tragedy occur.