The RCMP, Facebook & The Facts of My Life!

I live in a small community. Our village is about 750 homes @ 1.5 persons per. The rest of us are spread out east and west and inland. We're on the Atlantic Ocean so rural living does have its advantages.

Recently someone went through the village using bright pink spray paint to decorate with racial remarks and anything else that came into their Lilliputian brains, on sidewalks, benches, private and public property. They also broke into the local funeral home and did more damage there. Most people believe this to be the work of "young" people who roam around at all hours of the night seemingly without parental controls or sanction. As a result of this event, the locals have been on Facebook expressing their disdain, anger, and frustration with whoever the responsible party might be. In addition, many are blaming the local detachment of the RCMP with all sorts of lackadaisical behaviour in not capturing the culprits.

Woe-be-tide those who disagree with some of these FB bullies! Once I see they’re over the edge I just stop talking to them. No sense in tormenting wounded bears!

BUT: I'm only going to say this once. I don't have the time or inclination to educate the masses. Nor, is it MY JOB to do so! So listen up. I've had it up the to the end of my patience with some of the supercilious comments on FB about, "the RCMP doin' there job(s)" (sic) in Sheet Harbour, NS. Usually from people who know little or nothing about the RCMP and what their function is in our society.

My father referred to them (the RCMP) as, "the gentleman's police force" because when they got you, they had all their ducks in a row. They didn't use knee-jerk reactions to anything or anybody. During my own life I've had my own experiences with them and I have to readily agree with my father.

Of course everyone is entitled to their "opinion", they're like backsides; everyone has one. But for heaven sake INFORM your bloody opinion!

These same people never attend an "open house" or a "community meeting" offered by the RCMP to my knowledge. It is the easy road to be critical and not offer substantial solutions to any given problem. If someone butted into their own jobs in this way they'd be screaming their mammary glands off. While they criticize they use or condone derogatory terms from others. They would be the very LAST to make any kind of report to the RCMP that might make our community a safer and more pleasant place to live. No. It's much better to avoid interacting with the RCMP, after all someone might think, "yer a rat".  Well I think “yer a rat” if you don’t!

Keep in mind, if you're not part of the solution you might be part of the problem!

And gawd forbid they put their name to a complaint. They want to be anonymous when it comes to law and order! That alone tells me more than I want to know about you.

In the same breath we do have "young people" peeling rubber all over the place as if they'd paid for it. I say, "young people" because someone who works to keep their vehicle in top condition would never put it at risk peeling the rubber and gunning the motor to show off. 

But for some the only mark they do leave in this world is on a highway or graffiti on a public or private building. I've seen it not only in the harbour but in points east and west, and I'm not alone. You wouldn't dare tell their parents because, well they won't believe it anyway OR one parent takes discipline too far!! (what ever that might indicate) Plus the tendency seems to be to shoot the messenger!

I also say "young people" because my eyesight is still pretty good even though I wear glasses. The rubber burners don't look old enough to keep a budgie bird in a cage successfully, let alone drive a 4000 lb piece of machinery around by themselves. But the law in Canada allows it. Apparently!

As citizens, if you don't like the laws then you work at changing them. Blaming the enforcers of those laws is just another way to kill the messenger!

Plus when they get caught speeding and fined, aahhh the names and cusses come out then and the RCMP are this, that, and the other; everything but what their mothers’ called them! DAH... speeding is a crime and you got caught! So why the bellyaching? You called the tune, so pay the piper!

When some residents did the Neighborhood Watch programs, they got nothing BUT derision and asinine comments for their efforts. Most of the time from adults. Who would not give up under that peer pressure? It can be very difficult to work for and with ignorance and ingratitude.

There are even some in the area who profess to know, "what others think". An amazing feat on its own. Usually it goes like: "They think there better than everyone else. I know for a fact they were born in a shack!" (sic) Amazing statement. Especially so since many a world famous person was raised in a shack and found a way to make a positive place in the world through their accomplishments. But, the local seers "know what they think".

Getting a volunteer program today would be difficult indeed. Now you're sitting there wondering WHY should anyone "volunteer" when in your mind the RCMP get paid to do it. WELL listen up... that's not their JOB and Sheet Harbour isn't MayBerry. Watching too many American sit-coms has a dark side. You begin to think your community should be like what you see on TV. Well, what you see on TV is fiction! F-I-C-T-I-O-N.

In real life, we still have three levels of government and the RCMP get their job descriptions from Halifax or other cities. They're not the local police station although they have served that purpose from time to time in concert with other forces. They could be stationed in some other community but they're HERE! They're here because someone local had the tenacity and foresight to fight blood and guts on paper to get them here. Their coverage area is geographically huge. Look it up!

Their job is not to look after traffic in the lil village of Sheet Harbour and question everyone with insomnia who might be out walking around after everyone else is safely tucked away in their beds. And, if you think "you" pay their wages and they should be accountable to YOU! Think again. You're not their employer. The Government of Canada is and they're accountable to them through a very long series of command. Reporting to you, isn't going to happen! So, get over it.

You can scream and stamp your feet all you like about “your tax dollars” but it just makes you look less informed than you already look. No one is going to put you straight either because, “its not their job”, and it’s up to you to do that for yourself like the rest of us.

Many people refer to the RCMP as a “highway patrol”. I’ve done it myself in ignorance. Still others seem to believe that the RCMP sit in their little office waiting for the phone to ring with a report on a murder, burglary, mayhem or some other major crime. If they’re not available or the vehicles aren’t in sight, then “they’re gone to bed.” How do you know they’re not in Upper Musquodoboit, Liscombe or Mooseland or some other part of their coverage area? I'm sure those residents expect to see them too.

Another criticism is that the local RCMP are “rookies”. How do you know that? Just because they’re young looking and in good shape doesn’t make them “rookies”. All of us in a career choice have to get experience and if you examine the training programs for this career, you’ll see they EARNED their place to get experience. They not only train here, they train all over Canada. Do you really think the government of Canada is going to give someone a loaded weapon who is a “rookie”? Maybe in LA or NYC but, not in Canada.

(Yeah I do know about the FAC but we cannot be all right, all of the time.)



Finally, there are now hints of some folks getting vigilante in the neighborhood. Well good luck with that. These are private individuals who legally or illegally punish an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker. It must be a wonderful thing to know everything there is to know and throw your weight around. I think its called being a Bully and frowned upon by society in general.

I was going to copy some of the comments here that I noticed on Facebook but doing so would only be an embarrassment to some, so I've controlled myself in that regard. Like my mother always said, "More to be pitied than laughed at" or, "There but for the grace of..."

FaceBook used to be a fun place to talk with friends and family. It's now a pain in the gluteous maximus. People all over the world are dumping it and I'm near doing the same. FB can stick its finger where the sun don't shine ...and so can the offensive verbal bullies and idiots on it.

Stay Well, everyone else!