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LETTITOR

 

 

the Original

 

 

 

Can the RCMP wipe their image clean?

      

Garth McLennan
Editor in Chief

riday, January 7 was yet another
Fins: day for the beleaguered and

repeatedly battered RCMP public
relations department. They were forced to
scramble hard when news hit of another
PR nightmare created by a Mountie. This
time it was Constable Geoff Mantler of
the Kelowna detachment that is causing
a massive public uproar against the
organization after he punted an unarmed
man who was kneeling while cooperating
with the police in the head.

Now, the RCMP was quick to jump on
the incident. The Abbotsford police force
has already been recruited to investigate
the incident for the possibility of criminal
charges being laid against Constable
Mantler, who was immediately taken off
the street and assigned to administrative
duties. However, that is unlikely to appease
the public. Once again, despite best
intentions, to the public at large at least,
this just appears to be one more startling
case with the police officer in question
being investigated by...other police
officers.

Also, regardless of whether the police
in Abbotsford recommend charges in the
matter or not, from an image standpoint,
the damage has already been done to a
force that has suffered no shortage of
punishing PR blunders.

The video of the incident, taken by
journalist Kelly Hayes, has, as could be
expected, gone viral. The RCMP were
called to.a golf course where patrons had
phoned police in response to a man with
a shotgun. By the time they arrived at the
course, the man, Buddy Tavares, had left
the scene in his truck. He was arrested

when RCMP officers caught up with him.
The shotgun was discovered in the back
of the truck and witnesses have reported
Tavares exiting his vehicle slowly on
police orders.

It was revealed later that Tavares
had previously suffered brain damage
in a motorcycle accident which has
subsequently slowed his movements,
hence his lack of speed in responding to
police orders. What was also unearthed
later on was that Tavares had a licence
for his shotgun. He is employed by the
golf course and was permitted to carry the
weapon in order to scare off geese. Tavares
has since been charged with careless use of
a firearm.

Now, I suppose the argument could
be made that the police couldn’t possibly
have known about those extenuating
circumstances, but upon further review,
that theory doesn’t hold water. Other
officers could have easily checked with
staff at the golf course and found out that
Tavares was allowed to carry the shotgun
and had also sustained brain damage.
Clearly, that didn’t happen.

No, this will in all likelihood go down ~
as just another brutal example of RCMP
excessive force where no force at all was
required. Even if Constable Mantler is
charged, convicted and thrown in prison
(which, let’s face it, probably won’t
happen), the public will just see the crime,
and there’s little the RCMP or any other
police force can do about it.

I still believe that the vast majority
of police officers, regardless of what
organization they work for, are good,
morally outstanding people who work
hard to protect us everyday. But there is
clearly a contingent of bad apples that is
quickly eroding the public trust in not just
the RCMP, but law enforcement of every
stripe.

 

 

 

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