It seems a day does not pass without someone having something awful or difficult or just plain bad to say about a member of the RCMP.
I suppose it’s understandable, there are almost 30,000 people working for the RCMP, and almost 20,000 of those are sworn peace officers. With numbers like that even a tiny percentage could work out to quite a few people with issues.
We have all worked with people who have issues, have we not? Perhaps even been the person with issues, or had one in the family.
It’s not surprising that some of the people in the family with issues are also members of the RCMP. Like any well-functioning family, we should be acting to remove them from positions that might result in harm to themselves or others, while getting them the help they need to recover their lives and maintain their balance.
But there are other members in the family, ones who have always been there for us, ones who have responded every time we’ve called, ones who have not stopped to question why we continue digging ourselves into the same hole. At least not until after they’ve given us a hand getting out of it.
Locally, that’s been my experience of the RCMP. Calm, capable, competent men and women who respond to calls for help with care, who treat people with respect and dignity. I have personally witnessed them in action, and have found them to be worthy of our trust. I am glad to know they are here, in our family, serving our community so well.
I am sure we all have stories about interactions that have gone wrong. I thought it would be good for us to begin sharing some of the ones that went well. Twenty thousand serving members of the RCMP make good decisions and have positive effects every day. It would be good to offer them some thanks, from time to time.
Keith Simmonds, Trail