POLICE OFFICERS DESERVE OUR RESPECT, NOT OUR CRITICISM

I can't believe the kind of uproar I've heard in the past week about early
backlash from a case in which a man died after being tasered by police in
Kingston.

Before all the facts of the case were out there for the public, people were
questioning the actions of the police and saying how tragic and unnecessary
the death was.

The death was unnecessary - not due to the actions of the police but
because of the large amounts of cocaine streaming through that victim's
system which was, in fact, reported as the cause of his death. It was
cocaine, not a taser, as many people first jumped to that conclusion.

For me, in that case, the people I felt bad for were the family of the man
who over-dosed on cocaine and the officers who tasered the fighting suspect
and were immediately made out to be the villains by those looking to
chastise the police for their actions.

Anyone who has watched the show Cops or knows any officers personally know
they are not looking for an altercation when they go out on the job
because, like you and me, this is their job and they are doing their best
at it and, like you and me, are just hoping to put in a good day at the office.

If someone resisting arrest attacks an officer, they are trained and
equipped to handle it, like in this case these officers did. I thought
about this incident and realized that if I'm an officer and if you take a
run at me, I would have done what I could to take them down to protect my
own safety. Whether it be by takedown or taser, it really doesn't matter.

I think a lot of people forget how important police officers are and how
much of themselves and their personal well-being they put on the line,
often for people who they don't even know.

You hear some people come down on the police about how they handle things,
but often those are the same people who are the first to call police when
something happens to them.

The respect for the police just doesn't seem to be what it used to be even
ten years ago. As a young kid in elementary school, I was taught to show
police officers respect and I try to still apply that today, although a lot
of people tend not to have the same opinion, since this is a much touchy,
feelier world of today where, no matter what is done, someone or some group
is offended and ready to cause an uproar.

Whether it be OPP, local police, RCMP, CSIS, military police, transit
police, CN police or any other position I didn't list, they are still
people of the law putting their lives on the line to help protect society.