The death of a Polish immigrant who arrived in Canada, fought the bureaucracy for ten hours and then was tasered to death, is causing the RCMP some real problems. See how I wrote that lead? Is that sympathetic to the victim? Then read the news accounts like this from the Globe and Mail.
Who knows what the real story is. Video on YouTube helps tell the story. Clearly you have a very disturbed and upset young Polish man. The biggest problem for police is their version of events is inconsistent. The investigative report is due out today.
November 26, 2007 at 10:58 pm
Gerald,
I find this case intriguing. I am viewing it from the perspective of both a student of communication and a concerned citizen.
To me, this appears to be a “perfect storm” in the sense of how communication was handled. For instance, an RCMP spokesperson shortly after the incident said “100%, there were 3 officers handling the situation” when, in fact, the video shows 4. Moreover, the police initially confiscated the video and refused to return it. Only when the person taking the video threatened to sue did they give it back.
This, coupled with Canada Border Services’ refusal to say *anything* and a confusion between the Ministry of Public Safety in Ottawa and the offices in Vancouver only add to this. Today, they released their report, but even this was marred by some guy stepping in during the press conference to announce they would only take 5 questions. A yelling match with the angry media ensued; this made the evening news.
Recently, there have been protests and a very vocal protest group has formed to fill the communications void. The videographer has been given hero status by the demonstrators and many of these rallies feature impassioned, emotionally-charged speeches.
As a concerned citizen, I think much could have been done by the police, the Airport and Border Services to get their message out early, properly, and in a better light. By stonewalling and not providing answers the public want, some of us here on the west coast–and in Canada–have lost trust we previously had in these institutions.