#20 Brutalism must not be excused
December 01st, 2014
Way back when, in the dim dark days of yesteryear, when I was a kid we were taught if anything went wrong, go to a policeman, he’ll help. At home and at school we were told the police are your friends.
Time did what it always does, it passed. Then Glory Be! we learned we were getting the opportunity to host the winter Olympics. To prepare for the expected crowds, extra security was required and, as part of that security, extra police were hired. Hastily, and some say inadequately trained, they were , we were told, needed because of the possibility of terrorist interference, and, as well, for crowd control.
Well, more time did what time always does, and we got to see the security camera images of three boys in blue walking down the street, taking up the entire sidewalk with seeming little concern for anyone going the other direction. And coming toward them, obviously having difficulty walking, a woman.
And one of the cops shoves her to the ground. Then stands glaring down at her. Doesn’t try to help her up. Just stands and , eventually, walks off. Passers-by help her up.
Investigation. And Constable Chummy loses two days employment. Public stink. So at some expense, another investigation and guess what… a few more days suspension without pay.
HEY!! Excuse me! NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
Let’s turn this scandal on it’s side… let’s suppose I had shoved the cop and knocked him to the ground then stood there, not even helping him back up again. Do you really think there would have been no assault charges, no appearance in court, no fine?
Really? You really believe that? I have a bridge I could sell you…
It’s hard enough to make it through life with Cerebral Palsy. How much harder if you add Multiple Sclerosis to the burden. We have no idea how much raw guts it takes for that woman to leave the house and walk down the street. The last thing she needs is to be shoved aside like so much trash and dumped on the ground by some poorly trained bruiser with a gun on his hip.
His defence? He thought she was going for his gun.
You believe that? You really believe that? There’s a second bridge I could sell you…
The public has every right to expect the highest standard of behaviour from those who wear the uniform. We have every right to DEMAND decent behaviour.
The Olympics are over, the crowds have gone home, there was never any terrorist attack, so those poorly trained , inadequately prepared last-minute additions can either be sent off for proper training and kept on the force IF they pass, or they should be let go the same way “temporary seasonal workers” are let go all the time.
A few days suspension without pay is not good enough. He is a disgrace to the force, a disgrace to the uniform, and I’m pretty sure his mother doesn’t think highly of his behaviour. FIRE HIS ASS!
—
Anne Cameron grows pussywillows on the western edge of Vancouver Island. She received the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia in 2010. Her 23 books include Daughters of Copper Woman, the bestselling work of fiction ever written about B.C. and published from within B.C. She has banished herself to Tahsis, a small town not far from Friendly Cove where the shenanigans called British Columbia all began.
Leave a Reply