Political VANCOUVER’S new police chief, Bruce Citambers, has yet to put his mark on the most prestigious, and arguably most difficult, law enforcement job in Western Canada. Some recent events scem to be demonstrating political correctness may be his guid- ing light. Two weeks ago, Const. Tan Maxfield was called fom his desk job to do some crowd control in front of the @ . police station. - A few dozen loonies had shown up to protest remarks . made by another officer, Const. Mark Tonner in his > weekly column in the Sunday . Province. .. Tonner, whose column is usually devoted to traffic sate- _ ty dps and warm, fuzzy - police stories, finally said something controversial « about junkies being anathema :to society. True, mind you, but controversial in our polit- ically correct society. “His comments brought out the usual crowd of loony ~ Jefties, assorted ne’er-do-wells and perpetually unemployed - loudmouths, to stand in front of 312 Main clamoring for ». his censure. With the perpet- ual shortage of operational officers, Const. Maxfield and several other inside staff were called upon to do crowd con- trol. § 6©=_s As the protest wore on, with the demonstrators hurl- a ing abuse at the officers pre- sent, Const. Maxfield is alleged to have told one of -the marching throng to “get a job” or words to that Ct. ~~ At this point a CBC reporter stuck a microphone in his face and got actively involved in the exchange. The fact that, as a profession- af journalist, her job is to report the news, not make it, seems to have escaped our ethically-challenged heroine. The con- frontation was broadcast on the evening news. Police spokesman, Const. Anne Drennan, was asked about it the next morning at the daily press conference, Drennan said, quite right- ly I might add, that the department had not received a complaint about the officer and, as such, they were not taking any action. Up steps the new chief ordering an internal invesii- gation into the behavior of Const. Maxfield. Without discussing the merits of Maxfield’s comments, in the absence of a citizen signing a complaint saying they were offended, I have a big prob- lem with an arbitrary investi- gation arising from irrespon- sible journalism. Chief Chamber’s motis a- tion seems painfully obvious. Shortly after Chambers claimed his new chair, he “A few dozen loonies had shown up to protest remarks made by another officer.” took a lunchtime stroll through the mean streets of the downtown east side. He was horrified at the sight of open drug trafficking, junkies ‘fixing’ on the sidewalk and a royriad of other open criminal activity thar has turned the ATed into a virtual war Zone, Chambers immediately ordered the deployment of 16 officers from other duties into the area. Much of the cost came out of the over- time budget, much to the chief's credit, he felt the problem justified the action. Last week a great hue and cry went up following a Province story showing a police offi- cer’s hand- written com: ments on a Latino’s immigration- issucd refugee papers. The story itself was good and fac- tual and, in fact, was fed to the Province by a senior police officer to show how the street cops had become so fed up with the system allowing thugs, dope dealers and gang-bangers to claim refugee status and carry on their criminal activity with apparent impunity. The officer even signed his comments so anyone reading them would come to him for details, Preferably the Refugee Review Board. The scumbag involved is a known drug dealer who had threat- ened to kill a police woman. Unfortunately, the head- line writer at the Province either failed to understand the salient points of the arti- cle or had an agenda of his in North Ancerica’s #1 Ski Resort: Opportunities include: + Movntoin Operations + Food & Beverage + Guest Service + Sport Shops + Ski & Snowboard School If you are o team player with high energy ond enthusiasm, o winning attitude and a passion for service excellence, Whistler/ Blackcomb is where you belong. Employee Experience: at (604)938-7386: 4 plo oll Whistler /Blockeomb own, and intimated the police were racist and target- ing the Latino community in the skid row area. After the police depart- ment issued the appropriate denial and an explanation of the officers actions, the chief’ abruptly ended the second- ment of the 16 officers, despite hundreds of addition- al arrests and the positive effect it was having. On the surface this would appear to be nothing more than a knee jerk reaction to ao irresponsible headline. It's too early to brand Chambers. But sooner or later he is going to have to learn he “isn't in Kansas any- more.” This is the big city now. If he is going to be effective leading the largest police force in B.C., he is going to have to learn to be supportive of his force and nut bend to the winds of political correct- ness. Unless, of course, Chief Chambers is already mired in political correctness. In that case, it is truly a shame the police board didn’t heed the advice of a senior member of the judiciary who suggested none of the short-listed can- didates were ideal and recom- mended the board re-open the competition. — lknight@direct.ca — Th: North Shore News believes strongly in freedom of speech and the right of all sides in a eebate to be beard. The columnists published in the News present differing points of view, but those views are not necessarily those of the newspa- per itself. 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