CBC is reporting that Tim Shields is now facing a second sexual harassment lawsuit in the courts. CBC refers to Shields as "formerly" the top media spokesperson in B.C. However, we know that even after the first lawsuit the RCMP kept him as a public spokesperson showing they have absolutely no desire whatsoever to repair their tarnished reputation.
What, AGAIN?? Jeez.......
ReplyDeleteTruly there is a culture of this with the RCMP. The hits just keep coming.......Could it be any more obvious that "members" who are inclined to use their membership in the club to do things they shouldn't and be protected from the consequences have nothing to fear? I mean, when a female RCMP officer can go to the local high school to give a "the policeman is your friend" speech and wind up seducing/having sex with a 14 year old girl, with no penalty other than being made to resign, what's really to worry about from the offender's point of view. The irony of course is that the offender is wearing a police uniform.....but perhaps they would rule that it happened on the officer/offenders personal time and is thus not an issue....sound familiar?
How do you like your "no consequences" society now folks?
When "freedom" is misinterpreted as licence, this is exactly what will and does happen. I think it is important to keep in perspective these are individuals who are supposed to be fighting the "bad guys". There are not many more professions in society that deal with deviants, shall we say, than that of the police. They really are supposed to know better - it's not based on a course they took years ago, it is based upon daily real-world, real-life situations and experiences.
ReplyDeleteYet, constantly there are reports of police, of all departments, flagrantly breaking the law and not facing any real punishment for it. Yet, these are the individuals whom are supposed to be trusted to uphold and enforce the law. As the olde song goes, "one law for them and another one for us".
I imagine these are just the tip of an iceberg for misconduct. The Hells Angels used to run a website out of Ontario called the "real deal news" and they constantly posted news stories of police misconduct, convictions, etc. The web designer of the site claimed he came under such intense pressure from the police he was discontinuing the site - of course, he never admitted that it might also have something to do with his connections with an organized crime group …
I do not believe that merely ensuring police are truly held accountable will stop this. Police are people too and are just as vulnerable to the temptations and revisionism of modernist society. Ensuring they are accountable would, at least, be nice though...
" Police are people too and are just as vulnerable to the temptations and revisionism of modernist society."
DeleteThen there is something drastically wrong with the the pre-employment screening/hiring process. Why bother with interviews, background checks, and a polygraph if they can't identify people who are suitable for employment as police officers? With the numbers who commit offenses after they are on the job (and remember, the iceberg theory applies here, these guys operate in an environment that protects them from discovery much of the time) we could be forgiven for thinking there needs to be a comprehensive overhaul of how police officers are hired. If we examined the current process closely we should not be completely surprised to find out that, rather than screening them out, it somehow deems them more suitable than others. Because there's just no way we should be winding up with this constant avalanche of misconduct. Either the screening process is flawed, or the culture of policing in Canada is. I'd say it's fairly obvious it's both.
Clearly we must support law and order. I see two problems. One is the astounding number of sexual harassment cases within the RCMP. That in itself is a climate of unprofessionalism. Getting drunk with witnesses and flirting with them is acceptable in their eyes when in reality it most certainly is not.
ReplyDeleteThe other problem is management's cover up and acceptance of the climate of unprofessionalism. Stephen Harpers' response to the class action is to deny everything and slander the whistle blower. That shows they have no desire to fulfill their legal obligation to remove sexual harassment from the work place like every other employer does. The stories I have heard about Bill Fordy, Craig Callens and Bob Paulson disgust me. They just make me hang my head in shame.