There has been much outrage over the RCMP decision to ship a Mountie who abused his position as head of a polygraph unit in Edmonton to B.C.
Don Ray exposed himself, had sex with subordinates, and kept a well-stocked liquor cabinet in his crime lab.
His punishment for all of this was to be demoted to sergeant from staff-sergeant, lose 10 days pay and come to B.C.
I’m not sure why he has been sent to B.C. From a public relations perspective, it was like spraying a wasp nest with insect repellent — in the middle of the day.
When you do so, they will come swarming out in droves to go after the attacker. Even when a nest is sprayed at night, when wasps are inactive, a sting or two is inevitable.
The B.C. public is extremely cynical about the RCMP (as an organization) right now. This is the result of a number of things.
The most notable ones are the widespread perception that many men within the RCMP systematically harass female members and civilian workers; the Tasering death of a confused Polish man at the Vancouver Airport; the subsequent actions by one of the four RCMP members who Tasered him, in leaving the scene of a fatal accident and fortifying himself with vodka; and the shooting of an unarmed prisoner at the Houston police detachment.
Deputy Commissioner Craig Callens, who has taken over as the top Mountie in B.C., says things will change — but this transfer tells people that things aren’t changing. Coming on the heels of renewal of the RCMP contract in B.C. for a 20-year period, it’s too much for many.
I’ve worked for a variety of organizations for the past 40 years, within government and for many private sector employers. I have seen very little in the way of sexual harassment, although I know it has happened in some of my workplaces. The closest I came to witnessing it was when a colleague at a newspaper I freelanced for was charged and convicted of stalking — and promptly lost his job.
In my earlier years in the work world, I witnessed the effects of drinking on the job. This was at a federal government site. Superiors were unaware of it (perhaps wilfully), but when it became obvious, one employee involved was sent home. Unfortunately, he promptly drove into a ditch. Given that he was extremely intoxicated, this wasn’t surprising. Today, an employee would be sent home in a cab.
There may have been other discipline. I don’t know. The federal government was and is often reluctant to come down heavily on employees, with managers knowing a union grievance is sure to follow, along with a lengthy period of formal procedures.
However, I am sure that my superiors there would not have tolerated a fully-stocked bar within the workplace for a minute, if they were aware of it. One wonders why the Edmonton Mountie’s superiors seemed completely unaware of the bar inside his polygraph lab.
I have known many Mounties over my working life, and some before that. Almost all of them have been upright, honest people whose devotion to the force’s goal “to serve and protect” was obvious. I can’t believe that most of them aren’t as disgusted with this decision as the rest of us are.
