ROTHENBURGER – Defunding police forces wouldn’t cure what ails them

BEING A COP these days must be a demoralizing job.

You train to protect people, and each day on the job you try to do that. It’s dangerous work. These days, though, you’re accused of hurting people instead, of being racist. People talk about “defunding” police.

One afternoon this week, the Kamloops detachment issued a detailed news release about a drug-trade takedown that yielded a yard-long list of weapons and an equally long list of charges against a suspect. Good old-fashioned police work — serving and protecting the public.

That evening, all the TV networks ran a dash-cam video of Chief Allan Adam being tackled and punched during an arrest by two RCMP officers outside a Fort McMurray casino.

There are too many of these videos. They seem to be coming out of nowhere since the one of George Floyd being killed by Minneapolis police officers a couple of weeks ago.

A flame of discontent has been ignited across the continent and around the world that grows each day. Your moral authority is badly eroded. You are neither trusted nor respected.

Some want to shut you down. Calls to “defund” grow louder.

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Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.