Heh.... thought you were reading an exclusive? Alas, it's not about that Bush, and nor is it that Houston. Still, it is a disturbing story (CBC news).
On October 29th, Ian Bush, 22, was arrested in Houston, BC for having an open beer at a hockey game (and allegedly giving police a false name). While in custody, he was shot, fatally; the only two witnesses were the deceased and an RCMP officer. Police say that Bush became violent, and that the officer also sustained injuries, but details will not be released until the autopsy and the RCMP investigation are complete.
Family and friends are skeptical that the RCMP can investigate its own officers objectively, and I'm curious why it took almost a week for this report to surface.
More from The Globe and Mail and the Edmonton Sun.
05 November 2005
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Nobody can investigate themselves and remain credible. It's a basic tenant of Administrative Fairness (nemo judex in sua causa = "no-one should judge his own cause"). Interestingly, police forces all over the world generally escape the import of this basic rule. I would speculate that this is because power requires only the appearance of justice to appear legitimate. Hence the Complaints Commissioner.
I blame the police for the lawlessness in our society. Angry with bad drivers, I suggested that police should just suspend driver's licenses for most offenses to denude the roads of idiots. Friends quickly corrected me and pointed out that police would abuse this power. Because police abuse is so prevalent we have to check the police. We can't have effective laws and neutralize offenders quickly because the people doling out the justice would abuse it. In my example above: no jail time, no criminal record; just snip their license in half and point them to the bus stop. Offenders know they have a good chance of getting away with whatever they want. Hello lawlessness.
I blame the citizens for the lawlessness in our society, since they're the ones committing the crimes. The most effective laws are those that need no enforcement.
One way to simplify things would be to eradicate all the laws that the police have to work the hardest on. Voila! A law-abiding society.
(Is it me, or are the verification strings getting longer?)
Post a Comment