POLICING THE POLICE A FINE LINE

Two weeks ago police raided a suspected meth lab in Saanich, although
as everyone knows by now, they barged into a quiet family residence
housing no drug operation whatsoever.

Police were working on a tip from a previously reliable informant
that the Regina Avenue home was a drug house. The Cushing family
probably has a very different view of cops now, as the Greater
Victoria Emergency Response Team forcefully entered their home with
weapons drawn and dragged them in for further questioning.

I don't envy police officers or the policing system one bit.

Members of the public who believe there are too many cops writing
tickets and hassling everyday citizens send up cries of 'police
state' and claim we have Big Brother-style watchdogging. Those who
argue we have too few police around throw their hands up wondering
where the police are hiding whenever crimes are being committed in their area.

Whenever we're pulled over for a minor driving infraction, such as
speeding or neglecting to signal, most of us think to ourselves,
'Don't these cops have anything better to do?' or 'Why aren't they
out chasing the real criminals?' However, the last time my car got
broken into, CD player ripped out in a furious mess, I would've been
more than happy to have a cop car pull up on me.

There's a slippery slope within a democratic society's policing that
can slide into police-state territory unless constantly monitored.
Some say the police had no right whatsoever to barge into the Cushing
home unless they were 100 per cent sure there was illegal activity
going on. But the cops should be allowed to carry out search warrants
on homes where suspected illegal activity is taking place.

It's easy to forgive or turn a blind eye when it wasn't your personal
space that was violated, unlike Willow Kinloch's parents, whose
daughter was allegedly abused while in the custody of the Victoria
police. In a free and democratic society, we really don't appreciate
freedom until it's taken away from us personally, or violently rammed
down with a battering ram.

Human error means policing isn't perfect, and sometimes the mistakes
cops make in the line of duty end up costing innocent people their
lives. Robert Dziekanski, who died at Vancouver International Airport
last year after being Tasered at least twice and pinned down, will
forever be known as a victim of excessive police force.

The fact the Regina Avenue incident only resulted in embarrassment
for the Saanich police and a frightening scare for the Cushings does
say something about where we're at in terms of policing in this
region and B.C. in general.

In 2006 in Atlanta, plain-clothed police officers - similar to those
who raided the Cushing house - burst into an elderly woman's home on
an informant's tip that it was a drug dealer's house. Kathryn
Johnston thought the cops were criminals trying to rob her and fired
a bullet into the ceiling as a warning shot. She was killed by the
cops, who fired 39 bullets in her direction and hit her with six.

The informant, threatened with jail time unless he tipped off police
to a suspected drug house in the area, pointed to a house that turned
out to be that of Johnston, a church-going, tax-paying, law-abiding widow.

Alone at home that night, she heard someone outside prying off the
burglar bars on her window, after which the cops entered with a
'no-knock' warrant and all hell broke loose.

Earlier that day, the Atlanta police decided against sending an
undercover officer to try and purchase drugs from the house, and
afterward tried to cover up the tragic mistake by claiming they had,
in fact, bought drugs from the home.

In Victoria, the Cushings were so shocked they had no idea what was
going on. They thought they were being robbed, but obviously Victoria
is different from Atlanta and they weren't reaching for guns for
protection. Luckily this error in police judgement simply becomes
another lesson learned rather than a tragic day in the line of duty.