TIME TO REFLECT

Within hours of the deaths of four RCMP officers in Alberta Thursday,
many assertions were made that the deaths "proved" various things
about drugs, guns or police procedures. We will make no such assertions.

We agree that there will be a time to debate all these issues. But
most of the facts of this case are still unknown, and there is not
enough information yet to use this tragedy to prove anything beyond
what everyone already knew: Police officers do courageous and
dangerous work, and sometimes they are killed in the line of duty.

Author Michael Ignatieff, speaking on Thursday evening at the Liberal
convention, was right to note that the RCMP is "a police service that
doesn't just protect us as individuals, but symbolizes who we are as a
people." And he was also right to observe that the killing of the four
Mounties during a raid near Edmonton makes Canadians sad, and angry,
too.

But anger is not a good reason to make or change policy. Some
legitimate questions were raised immediately after the news of the
killings broke. Was the national firearms registry a factor? Does this
tragedy mean the government should re-examine its decriminalization
plans? Is prohibition of marijuana the problem? Do police have the
resources to deal with marijuana grow-operations? How closely were
senior officers involved, given that all the slain officers were junior?

It is the job of journalists to ask those questions. And it is the job
of public officials to answer them -- once they have the facts.

The fact that marijuana was involved in the tragedy does not mean
marijuana was the cause of the tragedy. But many commentators have
made the valid point that prohibition creates crime. That's undeniable.

It might even be true that prohibition created the crime of this
particular illegal grow operation -- although without knowing whether
this marijuana was intended for the Canadian market, it's impossible
to state with certainty that Canadian legalization would have
prevented the grow-op's existence.

But did prohibition of marijuana create the larger crime: The killing
of four police officers? The connection may exist, but the strength of
the connection is anyone's guess. Calls for legalization and calls for
stricter laws have both come in the aftermath of the shooting, as the
tragedy is shaped to fit different points of view.

There is also debate about which tools law enforcement should use in
its fight against illegal grow-ops: heat-sensing equipment or the
monitoring of electricity use, for example. These tools might help
police detect grow operations, although they are invasions of privacy.
Would they help prepare the police for this kind of eventuality? It
seems unlikely.

Effective and decisive action is indeed necessary to deal with
grow-ops. Policy is needed to deal with marijuana legalization and gun
control. Nonetheless, hasty conclusions reached in a time of anger and
grief will not do the country, or the slain police officers, any service.

There will be plenty of time for these debates later. For now, our
country mourns four fallen heroes.