Mountie gunned down on Baffin Island

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Good lord, he was just a kid....it's been a bad month for Mounties up North.

A 20-year-old RCMP officer, who had been in Nunavut for about six months, was killed Monday night in the remote Baffin Island hamlet of Kimmirut.
The dead officer has been identified as Const. Douglas Scott, 20, from Brockville, Ont.
The Mountie was shot and killed while responding to a call of people drinking around 11 p.m. said Akumalik Tikivik, a municipal liaison officer in the town of about 400 people.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/...002835&k=73060

[pope04]

So damn young...........looking at his picture, you'd swear he was in junior high. My condolences to his family.

[Resolute 14]

Based on the story, it sounds like the Mountie was ambushed. A witness said he was shot before he could even get out of his cruiser.

[bigtmac19]

These stories are so upsetting. My son is young but has been dead set on being a police officer for a few years now, thinking more toward the RCMP. As a Mom, it's a hard thing to accept, and this is precisely why.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by bigtmac19

These stories are so upsetting. My son is young but has been dead set on being a police officer for a few years now, thinking more toward the RCMP. As a Mom, it's a hard thing to accept, and this is precisely why.

How young? Most young boys dream of becoming police, soldiers, or firefighters (I was in the fireman camp), but then they grow out of it.

Terribly sad this event is though. I'm actually surprised that people so young are allowed that much responsibility and are put in danger like that. They should at least have partners.

[bigtmac19]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

How young? Most young boys dream of becoming police, soldiers, or firefighters (I was in the fireman camp), but then they grow out of it.

Terribly sad this event is though. I'm actually surprised that people so young are allowed that much responsibility and are put in danger like that. They should at least have partners.

yes, I do realize that, he's 13, he just might change his mind.

I agree with you I cannot believe 20 year olds are alone on the job like that, even in a remote area like that, it seems unsafe to me. He still wants to go the university route before doing any police training.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by bigtmac19

yes, I do realize that, he's 13, he just might change his mind.

.

Oh, when you said "young", I thought you meant like 7 or 8.

At thirteen, he probably has a more mature outlook.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

It's pretty clear traffic stops are one of the most dangerous things a constable can do, according to this CBC article:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/rc...ineofduty.html

[brownie]

Pretty sad.....it says the Detachment only had 2 members.You'd think they would have 2 experienced officers there if theres only 2 of them.They both would work alot on thier own.

[metallicat]

Originally Posted by brownie

Pretty sad.....it says the Detachment only had 2 members.You'd think they would have 2 experienced officers there if theres only 2 of them.They both would work alot on thier own.

But these guys are trained well, they know what they are doing. I guess they might not have the skills that a seasoned veteran would have though.

Condolences to the family. Very sad.

[CaptainCrunch]

Sadly training doesn't give guarantee's for safety. If it did, you would never have soldiers dying, or cops getting shot.

These things happen more to the inexperienced then the experienced, and sadly you rarely get a chance to correct those mistakes.

The other worrisome thing is that the police in this day and age are going to have to lose their sense of any kind of trust, which is going to lead to even more suspects claiming police brutality.

traffic cops are going to have to approach every pulled over car with non lethal or even lethal weapons pointed at the driver. Cops are going to start unstrapping their revolver housings and dis-engaging their safeties before they enter any houses. And if someone resists arrest or does anything that looks threatening they're either going to get shot, or tazered or pepersprayed or shot with a bean bag traveling at a thousand feet per second.

Because at the end of the day the police are really going to have to start measuring their safety against the lives of a suspect.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by brownie

Pretty sad.....it says the Detachment only had 2 members.You'd think they would have 2 experienced officers there if theres only 2 of them.They both would work alot on thier own.

At the same time though, in a community of 400, you aren't an anonymous cop on the beat. Towns that small, everyone is everyone else's neighbor, and the expectation of violence is far, far lower than in even a town of 3000.