I have been reading all the accusations condemning the RCMP officer regarding his handling of the Coopers while they (having good intentions) broke the law.
Nothing in any of the stories I could find mentioned anything about crowd control. There must have been hundreds of people there based on how many people claim to know exactly what happened.
Rather than turn their umbrage towards the bylaw that was the cause of this predicament, people, after hearing only one side of this argument, are quick to blame the very people we hired to enforce the law. The number one goal of our RCMP is the safety of this city’s citizens. The officer in question reacted to a safety situation on one of our busier streets.
If this circumstance had caused an accident involving injury to someone, whose fault would that have been? Would there be no lawsuit if the RCMP said they looked the other way because the Coopers were good people? Has anyone asked themselves, what if one of these Good Samaritans on a quad with a blade hit your parked vehicle? Or accidently backed over and killed your family pet, or worse, a child? Does the city wish to take on liability of allowing untrained, uninsured residents running up and down our streets and sidewalks? Perhaps this bylaw is in place so the work is left to insured, trained professionals for everyone’s safety.
All year long there is an endless chorus of complaints that the bylaws of this city are not being enforced. Then there is a collective outcry when they are.
I did not witness this event and have no idea if the officer acted reasonably or not. I do know that the officer is handicapped by the fact that he cannot explain his side in the media. My grandmother used to say, “There are two sides to every story, then there’s the truth.” I am going to hold my judgment until such a time that I can base it on facts and not someone’s biased account on Facebook.
I ask if all the people who have jumped to conclusions based on hearsay will be as quick to write public apologies (if warranted), as they were to write condemnations?
Tim Andrew, St. Albert
