The Editor:
News of the killing of Coquitlam RCMP Const. Rick O'Brien and the shootings of two other police officers hit me like a brick over the head yesterday and left me sobbing like a baby last night.
But as distraught as I am about this, I am a hundredfold more angry about it, and about the fact that we have so many anti-police politicians and judges and other officials in this country, who would sooner coddle and/or excuse violent criminals than to properly support the police services in our communities.
Along with a decent paycheque every month that reflects our understanding of the difficult and dangerous job that they do, the police services also need sufficient manpower, hardware, protective gear, technology and other resources to protect themselves and the citizens they are sworn to protect.
Nitpicking a police budget time and again, or banning the police from making contact with schoolchildren, might win you more left-of-centre friends, but it does nothing to protect the brave police officers protecting our communities, and it does nothing to help schoolchildren understand that the police (in this country) are not their enemies and can be trusted by them.
So for all of you anti-police types in whatever government branch it is you serve in, shame on you for not giving your full support to the brave men and women who risk their lives every single shift they are out there protecting us!
- Gary Tupper
