I've read both titles "The last guardians" and "Above the law" by
Paul Palango. I loved both books because they were bang on and
based on facts.
So I couldn't wait to read his next book. When Dispersing the Fog
came out I immediately bought it and expected the same
"professional" and objective analysis of the RCMP. I was sadly
disappointed.
Palango attacks several subjects which is already confusing, but he
also finds a way to turn each subject against the RCMP even though
there is little facts supporting his theories. To his credit,
Palango did a decent job with his investigation of the ARAR case
but spent a third of the book trying to get the point across and
ultimately blaming, you guessed it, the RCMP.
I have myself a decent understanding of the RCMP and I'll be the
first to say that the organization is far from perfect. But
"Dispersing the Fog" sounds more like Palango is ranting and
trashing the force instead of doing what he did so well in his
other books, which is: Reporting the facts! No the RCMP is not
perfect, it has become a huge political machine that takes forever
to get started and finally stalls due to mechanical failure at the
highest level of it's hierarchy.
But Palango throughout his attacks on the force, seems to be
blaming the whole organization and it's 26000 employees. By the
time I was done the book, it seemed to me that the whole force was
corrupted and incompetent and none of the police officers employed
by the RCMP were competent to solve a crime. SHAME!
The force has employees like ANY OTHER ORGANIZATION. Of the 16000
police officer: 10% are working for their own careers. 10% are
really bad supervisors that shouldn't even be janitors (usually in
high ranking positions) and 15% are good workers but would rather
stay as constables and slowly make their way to their pension
without any waves or extra work. So their is still 65% hard working
driven, intelligent individuals keeping Canada's communities safe
working long dangerous hours, with low staff, low opportunity of
promotions, absolutely no recognition from the public (cause
someone's cousin got a ticket), no support from their supervisors
and a bad criminal justice system. Meanwhile the media is making up
big stories about the RCMP because it is currently what "sells" and
give them high viewer ratings. The public loves to criticize police
and the criminal element jumps on board.
It is my belief that given the tools and the staff it requires,
plus a re-organization of the higher ranks of the RCMP and their
management (half of the higher ranks could probably head for early
retirement if their was a re-org) the RCMP would most likely
perform to the highest of standards. All I have to say about
Palango's book is that it is an attack against the RCMP and I would
be curious to know why.
Palango's book is sometimes based on opinions by himself or people
who dislikes the RCMP for a reason or another. Sometimes the
opinion is actually of a police officer from another police force
which is directly in competition with the RCMP for a local,
provincial or federal contract. Eg: lower mainland or BC who's been
trying to get rid of the RCMP for years.
Another issue I had with the book is that he even went has far as
to criticize the officers for the tazer incident at the Vancouver
airport. Placed in the same situation in REAL life, most of the
citizens and even Palango himself could and probably would have
done the same (if not worst) based on the information given and the
training of the officers. The tazer is a great tool that saves
life. For years there's always been a debate over deaths of
suspects while they are intercepted by police. It used to the be
the "choke hold", then the pepper spray, now the tazer. Will it
ever end!? Officers make a split second decision, they are trained
to use the tools/skills provided to them. They deal with violent
criminals who they don't know before arriving at a violent
situation. Fact is: If the suspect at the Vancouver airport had not
lost control, thrown computers around, walked around holding a
chair, the tazer incident would have never happened. Why was he so
upset anyway!?!? Criminals put themselves in a violent encounter
with police, not the other way around. Police officer would rather
have a quiet shift and go home like the rest of the Canadians.
Officer have a family and are not getting paid to get beat up or
killed. That's the botttom line. I'm not saying that encounter was
handled properly, it could have been better. All I'm saying is that
nobody I know ever got tazed!?... And another thing: RCMP officers
get tazed when taking training: ever heard of an officer dying from
the tazer? And would they risk their own if there was a problem
with the device?
Officers training could be better on any of their tools. Just like
any other job, the better the training, the better the employees.
Problems is: need money to pay for it and the man power. Will
Harper help!?!