CORRUPTION: Speaking Truth to Power

Thin Bruised Line chronicled the plight of police across Canada due to flawed recruiting, failed leadership cowed by political intrusion and a fractured social contract obliging the public to help them do their job. Sworn to "protect and serve" the rest of us, they are as good or bad as the politicians who oversee them and enact the laws. What hope exists then, for the police to preserve public order and safety in an alleged "failed state" run by a corrupt regime? The answer may come in Pakistan after a think tank urged transferring traditional anti-terrorist powers from the army and the ISI intelligence service to the police as -- the proper agency to provide domestic security in a democracy. Make no mistake, what happens there will affect us here.

Corruption debases universal human rights, women's rights, minority rights, free speech and, amid an alarming rise in missing and murdered journalists, a free press, which is the cornerstone of any democracy. To these fundamental issues, consider Pakistan's nuclear arsenal under threat by insurgents hostile to a regime nurtured by China when western aid faltered. Recall how Pakistani scientists fed nuclear secrets to North Korea, perhaps the most corrupt and unstable threat to the planet.

In this context, it seems clear that our unilateral military disengagement from that volatile region is not the last chapter in this ongoing saga of ethnic violence, religious extremism and corruption in high places. We have simply turned another page. As the Afghanistan combat mission ended and the troops rotated home, many returning men and women, military and police, observed that you cannot "save" that troubled land without grasping what is happening -- or not happening -- next door in Pakistan. Our role cost more than 11 billion dollars and 158 lives, plus "incremental" costs for the hundreds permanently scarred by missing limbs and shattered lives sustained in proud service to their country and the Afghan people. Freedom isn't free.

Such is the toll in the aftermath of war. But what is our legacy? Is victory defined by crushing a foe without toppling a corrupt allied regime? Which benefits the local population more? Which promises the greater hope for their future? And what is our future in South Asia? Will Christian nations, no matter how well intentioned, ever be fully embraced in a region overwhelmingly Muslim, Hindu and Sikh? Is the war on terror a battle for hearts and minds -- providing such staples as food, shelter, medicine, employment and a stable power source to run the factories -- or does it simply line the pockets of a corrupt elite?

These issues blurred the line long ago between police and the military when peace officers morphed into peacekeepers to fill gaps in the front-line ranks of troops assuming a peacemaking combat role. Tactics may differ, but strategies align, and our social contract with those who serve and protect us -- police and military -- expands abroad. To quote former Canadian Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier: "When a soldier steps on foreign soil in a high-risk environment, every single Canadian should be walking with him or her."

We abrogate our responsibilities to the police, the military, the federal government, NATO or the UN at our peril. We abandon those our men and women who put boots on the ground as well as the local heroes who conquer fear and step into harm's way in their own countries to defy high-level corruption for the greater common good. All have roles to play, as do we. Posting fact sheets and backgrounders, investigative features and analysis with the faces of heroic profiles of ordinary people, we will applaud courage, condemn corruption and provide context to better relate what happened, why it matters and what it means to you.

"Moving forward" is a loathsome expression spewed by overpriced motivational gurus, wordsmiths and spin doctors to feckless managers and their lackeys, long devoid of original thought, free will or even common sense. The odious catch phrase is duly repeated by the mainstream media without context or challenge as they scramble to "post first" online to meet what seem to be the constant deadlines of digital reporting. Just as history teaches us to forgive but not forget, we dare not move on without glancing back, not from fear or paranoia, but to understand that what's happening over there today will affect us here tomorrow. Today, we seek to challenge corruption by speaking truth to power. Your input is encouraged!

Killing Fields of Christmas

One of the most overreported but underappreciated facets of daily frontline policing is the carnage caused by drunk drivers. I received this link http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Z2mf8DtWWd8 from an SQ ami and an RCMP friend who urged me and others on their list to share it widely as it should be seen by anyone who drives. It's pretty powerful stuff, so be warned, it's not for the faint of heart.

The images took me back to my days as a young ambulance jockey and reminded me that there is a new generation of frontline responder who wades into this carnage on too many occasions. I'll confess that a tear rolled down my cheek watching this, at the senseless violence, the tragic loss and the simple knowledge that many people who dislike the police have no idea what the police and other first responders face on a daily basis. Well, they'll know after viewing this.

I want to take this opportunity to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas with the gentle reminder that the greatest gift you can give your loved ones this holiday season is to simply arrive alive! All the best in 2011.

Living in Interesting Times...

We live in interesting times. Julian Fantino is elected to Parliament as a Tory on Liberal turf, prompting Hog Town media to warn of barbarians at the gates of that centre of the known universe. Days later, Billy Elliott (the RCMP commissioner, not the dancer) tells CBC radio that he has the support of senior officers (who have not retired early or gone to work for the OPP).

With the planets so curiously aligned, I feel compelled to join the fray. Behold, The Thin Bruised Line has hit the blogosphere to complement the book that hit the shelves a few months ago and a web site set to hit the ether soon. You're welcome.

As policemen and women chorus across this fair land, eyeballs rolling back into skulls, "Oh good, just what we need ... another non-cop to 'fix' us." Fair enough, but hear me out...

As an ambulance jockey in my misspent youth, toiling alongside frontline officers in the trenches in often dark and unhappy places, I saw them as few do. Their courage and compassion shone as they rescued and comforted strangers at their most vulnerable on the worst day of their lives. Search as I might, I found no knuckle-dragging mouth breathers, shattering that false stereotype early for me.

Cops intrigue me. They often won't share information but are tremendous gossips and second only to those in the military for creative bitching. I shared their dark gallows humour, a release for the condemned who believe no good deed goes unpunished, and a mutual disdain for the media. I hated journalists back then... and then I was one. No one is more surprised than I.

In this age of media convergence, of the bottom line replacing the deadline, complicated by the rush to post a story first online, leaves little time or inclination for fact checking and context. That has left me leery of the media and a bit of a lone wolf trying to document policing as it is rather than how special interests wish it was. A police chief once lamented that the cameras are never around when you do good; screw up and the world descends to accuse.

The cops can't be everywhere nor be all things to all people. That's a recipe for disaster. But the reality is that every problem -- social, economic, corporate, educational, historical, generational, natural or man-made disaster, and even some mental-health issues -- left unresolved by those who exist to address it will be unceremoniously dumped in the laps of the police who will be told: "Fix this!" And when they do, there will be little thanks for a job well done.

It's worse today, when there are too few boots on the ground, careerism trumping consideration for the frontline grunts who fear their superiors will abandon or betray them to preserve their own jobs or fail to resist political pressure that goes far beyond civilian oversight. Police agree they should be accountable and held responsible for their words and deeds; they just wish others would be held equally accountable.

In the end, the police can't do their job without the help of those they are sworn to serve and protect. Our social contract with police does not absolve us from a duty to help them do theirs. Love them or hate them, the police alone stand between us and truly evil folks. If they fail or falter, it is open season on the rest of us.

The police need back up and a forum to speak up. The vaunted Thin Blue Line is now a Thin Bruised Line. And that's why I'm writing this blog. You can soon read more at http://www.freepressadvocate.ca/ But don't wait for it to send me your thoughts, suggestions and ideas for issues to tackle concerning policing, politicking or the press. Drop me a line at doug.clark@sympatico.ca

Then buckle up and enjoy the ride. We all know that making the world a better place tends to be a bumpy ride.