Robert Dziekanski... the issue

This is a story most, here, are familiar with. Robert Dzielanski was a Polish immigrant to Canada who became disoriented upon arrival at Vancouver International Airport, spent hours trying to connect with his mother, and was finally tasered, five times, until he was dead by four RCMP officers. If not for amateur video of the events the whole thing would have ended within a couple of days.

The RCMP reacted, as they did during the events themselves, badly. They resisted returning the video to the photographer (who later sold it to the press), they sent officers to Poland to investigate the victim, and they refused to allow any effective inquiry to proceed while any legal proceeding were contemplated. Eventually the Attorney General's office announced that there would be no legal charges brought against the four officers and a series of inquires began.

The RCMP spin has always been that its officers restrained an aggressive, possibly drunk, armed male by using Tasers on him. And that sudden death occurred shortly thereafter. Mr. Dziekanski had no drugs or alcohol in his system and he was armed with a stapler. His aggression and appearance were undoubtedly a result of having spent 10 hours in the airport's immigration area, unable to communicate with anyone because he spoke no english and he received no assistance from Airport personnel, Canadian Border Services, or, the final arbiter, the RCMP. 

From the time the RCMP arrived until Mr. Dziekanski died was about 25 seconds.

Much has been made of the stapler. I did some searching and couldn't get any definite facts but I'd guess that there are a hell of a lot more staplers per capita than there are handguns. Given the recent testimony of one of the RCMP officers that they are taught that anything can be a weapon, I would have thought that they would have been better prepared to counter a stapler threat. But the stapler is not the issue. My searches were a mere amusement. But they did turn up this nifty site, apropos of nothing. And saved myself the time I would taken to photograph our stapler, shown at the right. It's a Swingline and can be plugged in or run on four AA cells. I know it works because I've seen Sam use it but I can't seem figure it out. I also learned, courtesy of the folks behind Gullibleinfo, that the part of a stapler that holds the staples is called the "channel" and the average stapler has 52 staples remaining in its channel.

Christie Blachford argues in her February 28, 2009 Globe and Mail article that she doesn't think the stapler is the issue either. She believes the issue is the use of Tasers. Her argument is that while the Taser may sometimes (rarely) be fatal, it is an effective weapon that essentially mitigates the danger of harm to the public when officers are forced to escalate from batons to more powerful weapons. She ends with this "But a gun, well, it's almost always deadly."

True, but that is still not the issue. Only the feeble minded and Chiefs of Police truly believe that Tasers have been consistently and safely used in the past. The issue is enormous in its impact. It is trust. Specifically trust of the RCMP.

I grew up in Jasper Alberta. This crest on the right, the fur hats in winter, and the stetsons and Red Serge in summer were everyday sights. Usually there was only a Corporal and two Constables in town but they were visible and trusted. Trusted above all else. I did not have the misfortune to grow to adulthood in a world crumpled, spindled, and stapled by the cluster bomb of Viet Nam and the Middle East. I was born in an aerie in the Rockies and the Force's motto, Maintiens le Droit, was an anchor point.

We've all seen it on TV, the officer, at the witness stand, asking if he can consult his notes. He flips through them, clears his throat, and, memory refreshed, gives a precise account of the events that occurred, God knows how long ago. And, in the jury box, subtle facial tics telegraphs the essence of the drama, if it's in the officers notes, it's as good as DNA.

But at least one RCMP officer has given testimony that the events that led to Mr. Dziekanski's death were not reflected in his notes. His notes were lies. He had little choice but to give such damning testimony. Once the video was released the jig was up. So here is the issue. Why was the decision taken not to proceed with criminal charges against the Members that killed Robert Dziekanski?

It was also reported that Polish officials have accused Canada of not cooperating with their own investigation and that under Polish law they can lay charges in the death of Mr. DZiekanski. I can only hope they do, and that they request extradition, and that Canada complies. Because these Officers have betrayed a near sacred trust and undermined an icon of this country. Maintain the Right indeed.

The Joy of Writing

Calling yourself a writer is a conceit that should, most likely, be left to those who can say, honestly, that they have a publisher. But that would seriously diminish the ranks of writers. And that would diminish the world. That's why I sometimes ignore the conceit and whisper "I am a writer". Generally that happens only in the dark, pre-dawn hours, when I alone am awake and I've just deleted all of the drivel I've written over the last few hours. Only once I've said it aloud can I start anew. To call yourself a writer, even if only to yourself, requires only reading and writing. Reading is the important part, writing is the hard part. Being a writer is a lot like being a chicken. Likely most of us can conjure up an image of a chicken in a barnyard constantly pecking at the ground, ingesting pebbles, sand, dust, straw, and, every so often, a seed. At some point the slow accumulation of those rare seeds results in Chicken Cordon Bleu. And sometimes a dry, tasteless, mass that makes your throat constrict and your face to twist uncontrollably. Writing is like that for me. Nothing that resembles a sentence goes unread. Sometimes I read back the last few hours work and kind of nod a little bit. It will need to be polished, re-jigged, and sharpened, but it will work. And then there are times when the delete key is the only way forward.

When it come to that I sometimes hop over to Wordle to get an inkling how what I've written is progressing. So the image represents  the progress to date of my most recent novella-in-progress. And now to work. Again.