HARRISON – We deserve better info from RCMP in times of crisis

A POLICE OFFICER shot. A murder suspect wounded. An ensuing manhunt that shut down the Trans Canada Highway for hours last week in the Revelstoke Golden area and for the first several hours at least, not even a peep from the RCMP, or any other official who had valid information.

That’s standard procedure in this country whenever there is a serious police incident, as a cone of silence goes up, as if it’s none of the public’s business, or that officials don’t have time for the rest of us.

So it has the public in the dark, in some cases fearful, and the media scrambling to fill the void, often with less than accurate information. It took several hours before the RCMP confirmed they had an incident in which an officer had been shot.

This all began Tuesday afternoon, with the suspect dead Wednesday morning, and yet the RCMP continued to keep everyone in the dark until late Wednesday. Curiously, the media was able to find out more information, including the condition of the wounded RCMP officer from the City of Revelstoke’s website.

Contrast that with what goes on in the United States in the aftermath of a police involved shooting or any other serious incident.

Within an hour of the event, top police, and government officials and others are almost immediately and regularly standing before the microphones to explain what they know in a fair amount of detail, and to explain whether or not the public is in any danger.

We presume there is a need to preserve the integrity of the respective investigations in both jurisdictions, yet in the U.S. there is an abundance of transparency.

The point is, Canadians, or in this case British Columbians, shouldn’t be kept in the dark, and deserve to be told what’s happening in a timely way. In short, we deserve better!

Listen to Jim Harrison’s editorials weekdays on Radio NL, and to the Jim Harrison Show at 9:08 a.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at jharrison@radionl.com.