From looking at the picture of the police boat we had in Salmon Arm — with the RCMP decal being so small and not the best looking of boats on the water — you can understand that from a distance you can’t identify this as a police boat. From a distance, wearing a brown short-sleeve shirt, you can understand why I would not be clearly identified as a police officer. So, you can understand why a young male on vacation with a boat full of other kids on board had no idea when he turned his back and pulled down his swim trunks to moon us as they sped by that he did so to police officers on a police boat. So, you can also understand why, when I cranked the police boat around — lights and siren — I had a big grin on my face. I turned to my partner and we planned our tactics: “You be bad cop, I be worse mother… “ (you get the picture). You can understand the horror on the kids’ faces when we stopped the four boys and three girls in the offending boat. When we asked who the culprit was, three of the males thrust the guilty party hard enough forward that I thought he was going to fall into the water. As my partner was giving it to the guilty party, I got close enough into his face and gave him my best Clint Eastwood ‘Dirty Harry’ look. Drilled a hole into him. Kid didn’t know who to keep looking at — the officer who was lecturing him or the officer who looked like he was about to lose it on him. My partner tagged me up and it was my turn. Long silence, long sheepish look, longer silence. Then I let the hammer drop, knowing from my observation and looking over the boat that it was a “go ahead and make my day” type question that I knew he would fail. “I want to see seven life jackets, now.” Their day on the water was short. I’m sure you have all been there and can understand.
