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LETTITOR

 

Thanks for the good news

     

Garth McLennan

Editor in Chief

everal times over the past few weeks

in this space, I’ve questioned the

RCMP and whether or not they have
the capability to rehabilitate their battered
and beleaguered image. There have been
so many cringe-worthy instances in the last
few years featuring officers in less than
flattering positions, it was getting to the
point where the public was quickly losing
what little trust they had left in not just the
Mounties, but police in general.

That’s why it’s always a nice change
when we see some of the incredible acts
of good that the police perform, and that is
clearly the case with Constable Jim Moir,
and RCMP officer who last week delivered
one of the ultimate acts of courage and
bravery by quite literally throwing himself
in front of an oncoming truck in order to
save the life of a 15-year old girl. Moir had
his leg crushed in the exchange, but from
all accounts he is on the road to recovery
after major surgery and while it is terrible
that he was injured doing what he did, it’s
still a wonderful image booster for the
RCMP.

After so many instances of tasers,
kicks to the face, drunken driving fiascos
and countless other things that have eroded
public confidence in all British Columbia
police officers, it’s great to see the other
side of the coin. The clichéd phrase used

in defending the police when one of them
does something wrong goes along the lines
of ‘it’s just a few bad apples spoiling the
bunch’, and while that is almost certainly
correct, the fact remains that for the longest
time, the bad apples were the only ones the
public was seeing.

Now, it’s easy to see why we don’t get
more of these feel-good stories about the
police. After all, we’ve made it very clear
to the journalism industry over the years
that bad news sells, and in few places is
that more apparent than the various police
forces out there.

I really hope that this isn’t just a
one-off deal for the RCMP. I hope that
things are changing. Constable Geoffrey
Mantler, the RCMP officer who is allegedly;
responsible for punting a kneeling and
surrendering man in the face, has had
charges recommended against him by the
Abbotsford police department, and than can) .
only be called a good thing.

So perhaps these last few days are a
sign of something new for police in B.C.
Cops charging other cops as they should,
hero police officers saving lives, it almost
makes you think that we can trust our

police.

 

 

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