Police are people too

I have to confess that I am not anti-police. I think the police are people with a job to do - one that can be complexly challenging. One that I would not want, but I'm grateful someone does.

I also wouldn't want anyone to think that I'm some whacko cop hater. My family has always had friends who are police officers. I remember my parents' great friendship with the Chief of Police of Karlsruhe (Germany) and his wife when we also lived in Germany in the 70s - my brother and I and their children were also very good friends.

Several members of the RCMP would never drive past one of my mom's restaurants (when she still had them) on PEI, for the island's best lobster roll and a few good laughs with my parents and the staff. Police have always been part of my world. One RCMP Sergeant in PEI and another who is a member of the RCMP Musical Ride in Ottawa, we love like family. We have been blessed to have known the very best of the best.

However, I strongly oppose - and anyone with a working moral compass must oppose - police brutality. It has no justifiable place in a civilized world.

I heard about a recent carjacking on Highway 401, where the victim was shot in the stomach. Details remain sketchy but the suspect(s) has not been found and the shooting victim is apparently alive.

I then wondered what I would want police to do if that victim were me and they were nearby. There is no doubt that I would want them to do whatever they needed to do - within reason - to ensure my safety. If my kids were with me, that would be triply true. I would have an expectation that they would use every mental, physical and technological tool needed, within reason, to complete the job. No more, no less - not an extra kick, gratuitous punch in the head or taser jolt to show who's boss now. I would have a reasonable expectation that the police would do their very best work with the least amount of harm. And most of them, I believe, would.