Why are Canadian’s so passive that we will accept defeat, rather than fight for our rights and what is fair? That’s right, we always say sorry even if we didn’t do anything, everyone knows that.
Government corporations such as ICBC can raise rates many times more than anyone else. When did you ever get a 30 per cent pay raise? But we accept it as their right. Some complain, but the norm is, “Oh well that’s ICBC.”
The list of others is endless. Just like negative polling to pass dubious bills to borrow money for someone’s pet project that couldn’t get funded otherwise.
Ever notice the only way people get fair treatment today is to involve the media? The criminals today seem to demand their Charter rights in order to find loopholes to get off a crime they and everyone else knows they committed, but we let it happen anyway.
I firmly believe, and so do many other people I have spoken to, that the RCMP have outlived their mandate of a policing service. Many of the services they used to provide are gone.
The most visual presence is when they are travelling down 27th Street at very high speeds with lights and sirens blaring.
Maybe the police should address simple traffic violations. It might curb road rage issues when people run red lights or stop signs, make improper turns and cut people off. The list of simple infractions is endless that would stop a lot of bad habits from escalating.
I see lots of upset drivers taking the law into their own hands because there is no police presence.
Ask any motorcyclist about lack of law enforcement against car/pickup drivers in Vernon.
I’m not saying that none of them are doing their job.
We do have some excellent police officers in this city. I am saying that the job has changed and I don’t think they have. This city still has around 40,000 people and we have 50 or more police officers on staff with no more than half-a-dozen at work at any given time.
Vernon is not a high crime city. Transients and drug issues, for sure, but still small town feel. We don’t need more police. We need them to be more efficient, to be proactive instead of reactive.
When Ottawa told Christy Clark to sign a 20-year contract or they were pulling RCMP services, she should have taken the initiative and said, “OK, leave and we will do as many other B.C. communities have and hire our own police force (Surrey, Delta, Vancouver, Vancouver Island has several).”
We pay what the federal government says. The RCMP are federal employees. We have no say in anything they do, where they are stationed and for how long. We all know this is the prime area for RCMP to finish their service and retire here. Guess who covers the cost of their relocation and any losses they incur on their homes if they move?
Maybe it’s time for the Okanagan Valley to employ its own police force. It might take a while to implement but I’m sure it would be more efficient and cost-effective in the long-term.
How long will it be before we are told to build Vernon a detachment like Kelowna? Do they really need prime real estate down own? On 25th Avenue, there are several lots for sale that would be much better suited. After all, shouldn’t police be on patrol, not inside a nice building all day?
Paul Elmont
Vernon
