My experience working for a police department taught me that there is a small percentage of officers who are absolutely brilliant.
There is also a small percentage who are psychopaths and who, if not for their blue uniform would likely be wearing decidedly more orange apparel.
The majority of police officers, however, are ordinary people like you and me, trying to do a good job, raise a family, enjoy life and stay safe.
It is, I think, important to remember they are people and our police forces are made up of people. People do good and people do bad. And sometimes the bad is really bad. And sometimes, the monolithic momentum of an institution makes all those people, good and bad, complicit in an unacceptable situation.
I am, of course, talking about renewed attention to a class action lawsuit against the national police force that has been brewing for three years.
The suit, filed by Const. Janet Merlo, has been joined by more than 360 female officers and civilian employees, who allege the RCMP is a misogynistic organization with a systemic culture of sexual harassment and abuse.
Not all abuse is created equal. The suit alleges everything from inappropriate jokes to rape.
None of it is acceptable, but as long as the lesser offences exist, the criminal ones are almost inevitable. It is an attitude thing, and a shocking one when you consider every single one of us who sport the xy chromosome combo have, at the very least, a mother. Most of us also have sisters, daughters, wives and women friends. How do we still have organizations like the RCMP that simply refuse to do something about these crimes?
This comes on the heels of a similar scandal plaguing the Canadian Armed Forces. In both cases, promise have been made to change the culture, but in the absence of consequences, why would it change? Police officers are almost never charged with criminal offences unless it is unavoidable. Armed Forces personnel are disciplined internally and protected from criminal prosecution in the civilian justice system.
Whenever these scandals raise their ugly heads, one of the recommendations that comes out of it is for civilian oversight, but it is never forthcoming. The Commission for Complaints Against the RCMP has always been a joke. It has no power; it can only recommend changes, which are routinely ignored.
In the case of the Armed Forces, the recommendation for an outside body to deal with complaints was proactively negated by a standing order from the top commander to ignore it.
Why can’t we get this right? In my opinion, it is lack of political will.
The RCMP and the Armed Forces are very powerful organizations, but they should never be above the power of the people represented by Parliament. But federal government after federal government of all political stripes have abdicated their responsibility by not legislating oversight. It can and should, no, must be done.
I am sorry to say it, but we simply cannot trust these organizations to take the appropriate action and by not taking it out of their hands we do a disservice to the vast majority of their members, who are our family, friends and neighbours, just people doing their jobs, very important jobs, but jobs nonetheless.
