RCMP culture broken

I can imagine the angry shouts now; the denials – but hear me out:

As a former soldier, I know all about the “Boys Club” mentality and I still have it to this day. It is not, however, the petty and immature club the RCMP have allowed to develop – mainly through its own recruiting process.  A process that filled the ranks with the absolute worst kind of men to place in high stress and evolving environments. Add to this a normalization of violent behavior as I will address in the latter part of this piece.

The Boys Club mentality I learned and became a part of is entirely different. In “The Club” we had each other’s backs all the time; which meant in the instant one of us crossed a line, there were a bunch of people straightening that person out. And I mean right now, in the act. Being part of the club meant holding each other to the codes of conduct and discipline we signed our names to. It never meant covering up for each other or attempting to block cell phone video coverage as another’s rights are trampled upon.

One can’t help but notice that when such a video or information becomes public that there is a glaring fact illustrating this twisted version of protecting each other the RCMP has fostered: It is almost impossible to find a single incident involving multiple members of the RCMP where the illegal and damaging behavior of one or two is stopped, reported in any way to superiors, or reported to a civilian agency by the other members.  As a matter of record, the opposite is true. The RCMP refuse to give details, withhold information and internally attempt to destroy those few truly human members of the RCMP who are left – trying to speak out. The RCMP cannot be trusted. How is trust fostered when people will stand around and watch as harm is done without need, and then refuse to speak of it? Refuse to report it? A lie is a lie – by omission or commission.

Allow me to make this clearer still:  When members of the RCMP fail to stop another member or fail to report the incident, they become accomplices to not only the injustice but also the degradation of the entire organization. To truly have each other’s back would be to not allow nor tolerate any actions that deviated from the established codes of conduct within the ranks. In this way, you participate in the organization’s upward evolution as harmful behavior is quickly brought into the light, reparations made to those harmed, and discipline through education and counseling is used before any punitive measures are taken. As it sits today, the RCMP’s protectionist culture should not be accepted by its members and certainly not by Canadians. The costs have been high enough in lives, dignity, mental states, and hard cash due to a plethora of lawsuits.

And if one needs some measure of proof, we need look no further than a violent arrest in Kelowna on Saturday, May 30th. That man may have lost his job that day, drowning his sorrows in alcohol before sleeping it off in his truck in the parking lot. Does his “crime” warrant the actions? Have we become so blind to compassion that we look upon this and say, “well, he deserved it?” Add to this a black woman in distress crying out for help before plummeting over 20 stories to her death. Add to that an intoxicated native man literally ran into by an RCMP officer in a truck.

Do the math – before your next in line.

Garhen Avalokiteshvara