[flylock shox]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

This post isn't directed at anyone in particular, but I don't get why some people, not just here but everywhere, insist on blindly defending police actions regardless of culpability. Four RCMP officers needed to taser a middle aged, bewildered foreigner ... and they needed to taser him twice? Puleeze. I read in the paper a few days ago that one of the witnesses overheard the four police officers saying they were going to taser the guy BEFORE they even arrived on scene. If that testimony is true, it was a premeditated decision and trying to talk to the guy or use other options wasn't even on the their agenda.

Those of you who feel compelled to blindly defend bad police actions, such as in this case and the protestor incident in Quebec this summer, you can flame me if you want. But I'm actually a police lover myself. I have two very good friends who are RCMP officers, three RCMP officers are in my hockey pool, and one of the best police officers I've had the privilege of knowing died on a barroom floor with a knife in his gut from trying to break up a bar fight. I am very sympathetic with the terrible conditions that police officers work under, and many of them perform truly heroic deeds on a daily basis. I also know of police officers who beat their wives, exploit their position of power for personal gain (including sexual favours), drive impaired, and commit the full spectrum of human failings. That's because they are human ... and as such some of them are good and some of them are bad. Blindly defending the bad ones is actually a disservice to the good ones because they tarnish the image of all police officers, good and bad alike. One of my RCMP buddies figures those four guys in Vancouver were just being lazy using the taser and that each of the four needs to grow a pair.

If people want to laud the police, start a thread and talk about the incidents where they do great stuff, like resolving the child abduction that happened last night in Drumheller in about three hours time. Those guys deserve medals.

I'm with you.