TOUGH JUSTICE NEEDED FOR ALL

Ex-Cop Thrown In Jail While Other Criminals Walk Free

The two-year jail term handed to former Penticton RCMP Const. Mark Webb
was tough justice.

While we agree with Judge Brian Weddell's assertion that police officers
"face a different yardstick" than ordinary citizens, we can't help
wonder why this same tough justice isn't meted out more often by the
courts.

Webb had earlier pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana for the
purpose of trafficking and obstructing justice. Court was told how Webb
was paid $11,000 for his part in a carefully planned charade in 1998
while he was a member of the local RCMP drug squad. He confiscated 30
pounds of pot from a man involved in a drug deal and later returned it
to the original drug dealers, who then resold it to the same man he
confiscated it from.

Webb has since quit the police force and has apologized to his former
colleagues and the court. Nevertheless, he will serve time in a federal
prison, although for obvious reasons he'll remain segregated from the
general prison population.

Webb certainly betrayed a public trust. As a member of our national
police force, he had a duty to handle himself in a manner befitting the
RCMP. He didn't and is paying the price. The last thing Canadians need
is to lose faith in the RCMP.

But we also ask ourselves, why should a former police officer be forced
to spend time in prison, when other criminals - many of them
representing a much bigger threat to the public - get off with a slap on
the wrist?

Canada's justice system has lost a lot more public faith in recent years
than the RCMP. We need the courts to deal more harshly with all
criminals - especially those involved in violent crimes.

To be a proper deterrent, justice must be seen to be tough on all, not
just crooked cops.