Do you give unconditional trust and support to the RCMP? - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

MBates · 07-14-2016, 01:05 PM

If so...why?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/paul...ment-1.3678454

This is sadly only the latest story that makes me wonder how my fellow citizens just blindly worship police and presume they are always the "good guys".

Imagine a scenario where you walked around naked at work and bullied and sexually harassed your coworkers - and didn't even lose your job.

In my view, it is the very unwillingness of Canadians to accept how corrupt and unlawful their police forces can be that creates the environment for these things to happen.

Will we collectively demand someone to at least get fired? Maybe even face charges? Or is it all good because Paulson says sorry and they are accepting recommendations of a report?!

Weitz · 07-14-2016, 01:07 PM

I evaluate every situation differently. Anyone who does anything "unconditionally" is silly.

rubecube · 07-14-2016, 01:08 PM

I don't because they're never transparent or accountable for anything. It always has to go to a commission before anything comes of it, and even then it seems as if the penalties aren't very harsh, nor do they serve as deterrents.

Cecil Terwilliger · 07-14-2016, 01:14 PM

I think there are two factors at work here.

First, the strong "old boys club" military type atmosphere in police/RCMP/firefighters. Vulgar behavior, harassment, misogyny etc seem far too common. This also makes investigations tough because no one will protect the victims and instead get tight lipped to protect the "brotherhood".

Second, public trust and authority figures abusing that trust. We often worship "first responders" and it is very difficult for many people to grasp they are no different than the rest of us. Just their mistakes often carry much more severe consequences for John Q Public. The sad reality is that they are often placed on a pedestal, with their supposed high standards of behaviour and training championed by supporters. Unfortunately, as much as we'd like them to be bastions of justice, they are prone to eff up and make emotional and questionable decisions.

Also, sometimes strong unions. Not in this case though.

Dion · 07-14-2016, 01:16 PM

Not after kicking in the doors of flooded High River residents. Took a long time to get them to own up and pay for new doors and any associated damage done.

Winsor_Pilates · 07-14-2016, 01:17 PM

That's a pretty loaded question. I don't even give my wife unconditional trust and support.
Does that even exist?

CroFlames · 07-14-2016, 01:26 PM

Just like with any segment of society, there are bad apples among a lot of good ones. Police forces are no different.

The Yen Man · 07-14-2016, 01:27 PM

Yah, who gives unconditional love and trust to anything besides maybe their families (and that also varies depending on each person's family)?

Robbob · 07-14-2016, 01:30 PM

I give them the benefit of doubt, but like it was mentioned above there are a small percentage that makes people lose trust.

Peanut · 07-14-2016, 01:51 PM

Weird question. I give unconditional trust and support to my kids. That's about it. Certainly don't extend that to random strangers, RCMP or not.

cKy · 07-14-2016, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peanut

Weird question. I give unconditional trust and support to my kids. That's about it. Certainly don't extend that to random strangers, RCMP or not.

You trust your kids unconditionally? My kid is 4 and i dont trust him. Dude eats his boogers, pees his bed, and sticks veggie straws up his nose.

Kids should never be trusted unconditionally!

schteve_d · 07-14-2016, 02:03 PM

I will have to reiterate what others have said in that there is no such thing as absolutely unconditional trust and support.

If I interpret the question as I think you really meant it, then yes, I do tend to support the police until proven otherwise as I generally think they have a tough job and do it well but as was mentioned earlier, in any one group of people there are good and bad. I like to think that there are far more good than bad, but....

Football players, some are good, some are bad. Milkmen (if they still exist), some are good, some are bad. Grocery clerks, accountants, teachers, garbagemen, appliance repairmen, engineers... In any of those groups, and countless others you will find good people and bad. We hope that police forces do their best to weed out the bad, but it's just not always possible.

I think most police get into it for a genuine reason and some get soured by what they see.

I haven't always been an angel and I can still say that I have had more positive interactions with police than negative. Far more. Even a few times, many moons ago, when I didn't deserve to be treated respectfully I was.

I'm going off on a tangent now, but if I have taken your question for what I think you are trying to ask correctly; yes, I generally support the RCMP.

Peanut · 07-14-2016, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cKy

You trust your kids unconditionally? My kid is 4 and i dont trust him. Dude eats his boogers, pees his bed, and sticks veggie straws up his nose.

Kids should never be trusted unconditionally!

I trust them to do those things. Not eating boogers is when I start to get suspicious.

Yeah I guess I meant I support them unconditionally. I don't trust anyone unconditionally, really.

#-3 · 07-14-2016, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cKy

You trust your kids unconditionally? My kid is 4 and i dont trust him. Dude eats his boogers, pees his bed, and sticks veggie straws up his nose.

Kids should never be trusted unconditionally!

I was about to say I support my kids unconditionally in a way that I could probably only also extend to my parents who don't need my support.

But TRUST!

The 3 yo boy would have killed himself 10 times by now if I trusted him. The girl is a little better but not much.

CliffFletcher · 07-14-2016, 02:30 PM

I don't agree with your implication that these things happen because Canadians are too trusting of authority and police. Canadian police are under stronger public oversight than almost any others in the world. As bad as this stuff is, it isn't even in the same ballpark as the stuff other police forces in the world get away.

That's not to excuse this behaviour. But anyone who thinks it's enabled by some kind of blind worship of police in Canada is way off base.

Locke · 07-14-2016, 02:33 PM

GoinAllTheWay · 07-14-2016, 02:36 PM

Not the RCMP. They've had far too many "incidents" and the number of sexual harassment cases you hear of coming from them seems to be, unfortunately, common.

Like someone above said, most forces have their bad eggs, just seems to happen quite often with the RCMP.

DoubleF · 07-14-2016, 02:42 PM

Overall, I'd personally believe that the RCMP and CPS both are mostly filled with good people as the main majority. All groups have their bad eggs, other companies are not immune.

Personally, my opinion of the CPS > RCMP. I've just interacted more with CPS to build a better opinion of them than RCMP.

Kjesse · 07-14-2016, 03:03 PM

I've seen a few things with the Banff RCMP where I'm not proud they're our police force. I haven't witnessed any corruption or anything but wow, they escalate from 0 to 10 when someone even hesitates complying.

Flash Walken · 07-14-2016, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Just like with any segment of society, there are bad apples among a lot of good ones. Police forces are no different.

Unfortunately most of the bad apples seem to end up in supervisory positions in law enforcement.

How can that happen?

These threads about police falsifying testimony were crickets.

Bates is definitely onto something when it comes to Canadian attitudes about law enforcement.