OPEN SEASON ON COPS?

Re: " 'I'm really, really sorry,' Parasiris tells officer's family"
(Gazette, April 25).

As a serving police officer of 21 years, I believe the events
surrounding the murder of Laval Constable Daniel Tessier and the
subsequent release of his accused killer on bail (a first in Canadian
history) serve notice to all police officers that our lives and
profession mean very little to the system we are sworn to uphold and
protect.

That system, and the Quebec courts representing it, chose to grant
bail to Tessier's apologetic accused killer, a man who keeps loaded
handguns by the bedside and yet is not seen as a threat to public safety.

The system, which gave Tessier (and, indeed, police nationwide) the
authority to enter the killer's home, betrayed him soon after his
death. This continues the serious degradation of the fabric of
society, which deems it more important that people like Basil
Parasiris can live free than that we protect the lives of the people
charged with protecting that society.

Tessier will never get to hug his children again, but bail allows
Parasiris to hug his.

Patrick A. Walsh

Ottawa