RCMP good or bad?

[ryeguy]

I started up this poll because the whole Dziekański tasering death incident is really bothering me.

I was just thinking, without that video evidence, it's very likely Dziekański's dealth could have been covered up by the RCMP. They had already tried to take the video evidence because they knew that the video clearly showed they had used excessive force on an unarmed man. Even more disturbing is the recent news reports that senior RCMP members are offering their support to the officers involved in the tasering dealth.

Of course, this type of thing doesn't happen everyday, however, many negative encounters with RCMP never get published.

Therefore, if you, a friend, or a family member has ever had a negative encounter with the police, please share your stories with us.

[Sales! Sales! Sales!]

:ermm: Here's the latest Rye:

WINNIPEG - The father of a 17-year-old who died after being shot with a Taser by Winnipeg police this week - reportedly the youngest person to die in a Taser-related incident in Canada - says his son was an "innocent child" who died senselessly.

"My son's dead," Brian Minchin said Thursday, sobbing. "I only have one child. And he's taken away by neighbours and police officers. They shot an innocent child for nothing. For breaking into a fricking car. Did he have a gun?

"No, he had a small little knife."
[Only registered and activated users can see links] Winnipeg police cordon off the scene where Michael Langan, 17, died Tuesday.

Michael Langan died after being Tasered Tuesday by Winnipeg police when they encountered him in a back alley allegedly holding a knife. Langan had been living with his father since early July.
Minchin said he's angry at the police for not trying to talk to his son more.

"It's senseless, you know? They couldn't talk with him, negotiate for ten minutes and talk to the kid, you know?"

Amnesty International says Langan was the youngest Taser-related fatality recorded in Canada.

"It is definitely the youngest person by several years," said Hilary Homes, a security and human rights campaigner for the human rights group.

"He's definitely the first teenager."

Police have said the teen was a suspect in an attempted car theft.
Two citizens flagged down police officers, who then went after the teenager. Police said that when the officers found the suspect, he was armed with a knife and refused to obey their directions.

They then used a Taser on him, according to police.

Winnipeg Police Chief Keith McCaskill told a news conference Thursday that there was no indication that racial profiling played a role in the incident.

The Manitoba Metis Federation has been providing counselling and other services to the family, according to some media reports.
"It's tragic for everybody," the police chief said. "A young person has lost their life."

He said the investigation was continuing, and that officials were waiting to receive results from an autopsy.

"It's really difficult for me to make judgments on anything until (I) have all of the facts," he said of the Taser incident.

"There's specific rules on when those devices can be activated."
On Wednesday, the teen's grieving mother lashed out at police and their use of the Taser.

"They might as well just took a gun and shot my son right there instead of using the Taser," Sharon Shymko told CTV news.

"Basically, it did the same thing.

"They took away my son and they should not have. This should not have happened. My son's not here, and there's nothing else I can say."

As autopsy results have not yet been released, no definitive cause of death has been established.

The teen's mother called on Winnipeg police to stop using Tasers.
Minchin said his son was "stubborn" but good at heart.

"He didn't go back to school last year when school started," Minchin said. "He was kind of a stubborn kid, you know? He didn't respect me that much, I suppose. He was a kid so I still loved him.

"He was a good kid, man, you know? Harmless kid. Maybe he did some stupid things once in a while, but who doesn't as a teenage kid, you know? He wasn't involved in any gangs. Sure he liked to smoke pot and he liked to drink a little bit, but what kid his age doesn't, you know?"

Since 2003, there have been 21 stun-gun-related deaths reported in Canada. More than 300 people across North America have died in connection with stun gun use.

Four people died in Taser incidents last year. The death of Robert Dziekanski, after being stunned by RCMP at the Vancouver Airport in October 2007, unleashed a global firestorm of controversy about police use of Tasers after an amateur video of his death was released to the media.

The spokeswoman for Amnesty International said that while the group is concerned over the use of stun guns and Tasers in general, they will wait until more details of the investigation are released before commenting further on the Winnipeg incident.
The teenager was the first person to die in Manitoba after being hit by a police stun gun.

"There hasn't been enough independent and comprehensive testing (on Tasers)," said Homes.

[thischiq]

omg, i got shivers ....

[ryeguy]

thanks for sharing Sales! ..
i wonder when the rcmp are going to realize that tasers are killing people.

[B4BYme]

I seriously wish they'd ban them. They could throw some itching powder or something o___o

[bombshell]

i think there are both good and bad rcmp, but not necessarily equal.

i have seen some cops abuse their power by parking in a spot they arent allowed to (no for an emergency, but to get somethign from the store). oh and i think i heard or read that some have been caught with child pornography (but i dont think that is abusing their power).

however there are some good cops. they are actually out there helping the community and all of that.

for the Dziekański case i thinmk the cops were in the wrong. from the video you could see that her was just moving away. yes his arms might have been moving but he was frustrated. he was at the airport for hours with no food or rest. he didnt speak english so it was even harder. i would have probably been agitated within the firdst hour!

and seriously his mom was worried and looking for him. one of the workers could have easily brought her to that area to see if she could spot him...

[FINGERSCROSSED]

My story:
a couple years ago, there was this creepy old lady who would watch my family. she would drive by countless times during the day.. one day as i was getting ready for school, the lady drove in. (we have a gate around our property so she was outside of it). she called me out and she was saying some shit about my dog.. he's a big furry dog so he could live outside. She was calling it 'abuse', even though he had like 2 dog houses. he's also on the sundeck with a roof. she told us that if we didnt take care of our dogs better she would find them a better owner. that day when my mom drove me to school, i believe it was her and a couple other people who jacked both of my dogs.... we didn't call the police or anything. thje exact same thing happened to our neighbours too. about half a year later we got another dog. long story short, some people came in while we were being driven to school and jacked them too, we called the police and the police didnt do anything. they didnt care.

a third time, i was wary of the situation - about a year later, i saw a van pulled up from the culdesac in front of my house, facing my house. they were watching us, our neighbours also saw that and called the police. the police said that they can't do anything about it. the van drove away and then when we were out, my neighbour was in his backyard and saw that they in fact, had climbed over our fence to try to get my dog. my neighbour ran over, called the police again saying that they were 'trespassing' and then what did they say? they said a couple of people called about dogs getting missing and the police cant do anythikngabout it. THEY WERE ON MY PROPERTY for goodness sake AND THE GATE WAS LOCKED, and the police didn't give two shits.

ever since then i've hated the police... took three of my dogs and they didn't do anything about it. i think they're useless and don't have anything better to do with their time than to sit around and do nothing.

[bombshell]

^ did you at least get the license plate? then when your dog got stolen you could have called the police and tell them you saw people drive away with your dog in the van and got the license plate number. they might have done something then.

[Darlinh06]

cops are gonna do whatever they want cause who's gonna stop them? no one. They'll beat you up if no one is looking.. police brutality? There's no such thing... If you are a victim, they'll somehow make u look like you deserved it.

[delishmomma]

I hate the Police PERIOD

[ryeguy]

even when there's an internal investigation of wrong doing with the police, like in the Dziekański case, they're going to do everything in their power to protect themselves. that's a scary thought.

however, to answer your question....who's gonna police the police?
the answer is US.

if you see police doing something wrong, capture it on video. i may be weird because i have my digital camera on me wherever i go, but even if you don't carry a camera with you, you can always use your cell phone's camera.

some of my stories:

1) was waiting to cross the street in downtown. cop ghost car speeding on dunsmir
towards burrard, it's a red light for him, his lights are on but no siren. as he
crosses the intersection he nearly hits another car going north on burrard.

2) again on dunsmir, cop cars are parked in no parking zone during busy rush hour.
the reason? having a cup of coffee at the tim hortons on dunsmir and seymour.

3) a friend's mom was given a speeding ticket for going 60 km/h in a 50 zone. was
told cop was very rude to her. she's doesn't speak english very well.

4) a friend was given a ticket for having a loud exhaust on her car. she wasn't even
speeding, and she NEVER drives fast. no testing equipment was ever used to
measure how 'loud' it was, and trust me, it's not even close to being as loud as those
harley's you hear ripping through downtown.

5) i was riding with some friends going slow through a school zone. a cop behind us
flashes his lights and we're baffelled as to why we're being pulled over because we
weren't speeding at all. turns out, he wanted to check to ensure we all had our
class 6 licenses.


cops are gonna do whatever they want cause who's gonna stop them? no one. They'll beat you up if no one is looking.. police brutality? There's no such thing... If you are a victim, they'll somehow make u look like you deserved it.

[FINGERSCROSSED]

^ did you at least get the license plate? then when your dog got stolen you could have called the police and tell them you saw people drive away with your dog in the van and got the license plate number. they might have done something then.
yes we did have it.. they didn't care and they were also rude on the phone.

[bombshell]

yes we did have it.. they didn't care and they were also rude on the phone.

wow just listening to these stories make me not want to have to ever deal with cops...

^ryeguy.. have you ever used your camera to videotape a cop yet?
because i really dont like it when police just turn on their lights but no siren.. someone even pedestrians can get really hurt...

[bombshell]

does anyone remember the story about the female police officer that was rushing to get to a suicidal person but while trying to get there she crashed (i think tboned) into another car? the other car had 2 males and they both died?

i think that was horrible that 1 life was in danger and 2 lives were taken with the police injured...
oh and wasnt it because she didnt have her sirens on? sorry i cant remember...

[ritika]

I hate the Police PERIOD


I'm with you on that one.
There are ultimately no good cops.
I drive a crew cab silverado which is a boat so the other day this lady in this tiny car cut me off and wouldn't let me merge into the turn lane!!
And I had to turn and my grille was at her front door and its kind of intimidating i get that.
I wasn't trying to intimidate her I just wanted to get into the lane so I was waiting and my truck happend to be angled in that direction.
Anyways later a cop shows up at my house and started talking about road rage and how this is my first complaint but they're taking road rage very seriously etc.
I'm like HANG ON I was not intimidating her I was waiting to merge into that lane while 8000000000 people behind me are honking in rush hour.
It was her choice to cut me off and the block the lane.
Anyways apparenlty she shed some tears and I got this big nasty complaint against me.

Another thing..
My friend drives the exact same truck as me except for hers is a 2500 diesel.
We went to metro and this guy was like "%&^$ing little girls driving big trucks blah blah"
And there was this really bad attitude towards us.
Anyways we went to metro came out after shopping and someone keyed her truck!
Theres just a general bad feeling towards people who drive bigger trucks eh.
Some are just mad because they chose to downsize..
And i'm not saying its easy.. its a pain in the behind.. i can't park it everywhere my gas bill is huge and the truck payment is robbing me blind but I enjoy it so I kept it.
I'm just praying the same doesn't happen to mine..
We filed a complaint but we would never be able to tell who did it.

[tru__minute]

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

I have no respect for RCMP officers (in general that is). They can do whatever they want. They can make up some bullshit and charge you because they 'want' to. They can park in a busy lane and talk to another RCMP officer because they feel like a chit chat.

[ryeguy]

bombshell, the officer was charged:

link: Mountie charged ([Only registered and activated users can see links])

you may recall a similar thing happened to an older couple named Paquilina-Maria and Benito Di Spirito, who died instantly in June 2003 when a police car hit theirs at the intersection of 22nd Avenue and Boundary Road.

and to answer your question, no, i have not yet used my camera to capture any police incidents yet, as i just started carrying my camera with me more frequently. i think the whole Dziekanski incident made me more aware of the power of video.


does anyone remember the story about the female police officer that was rushing to get to a suicidal person but while trying to get there she crashed (i think tboned) into another car? the other car had 2 males and they both died?

i think that was horrible that 1 life was in danger and 2 lives were taken with the police injured...
oh and wasnt it because she didnt have her sirens on? sorry i cant remember...