I admit I have a soft spot for the RCMP. They are often put in difficult and dangerous positions in an effort to protect lives and property and then are taken to task for their actions.
Take the flooding in High River in the summer of 2013 as an example.
Because of the flooding, High River had declared a state of emergency and issued an order for everyone in the town to evacuate. To aid in the evacuation efforts, the EOC asked the RCMP to conduct a door to door search in order to make sure everyone had gotten out safely.
During the search RCMP entered 4,666 homes, including 754 in which they broke doors and windows to gain entry, rescuing 38 people and 700 stranded pets.
Police also confiscated 609 firearms from 109 homes, along with marijuana plants from five homes.
As people were slowly allowed back to their homes, a number of residents complained that their homes had suffered damage as a direct result of the RCMP forcibly breaking into their homes. Gun owners also complained that the firearms the RCMP recovered during the searches were illegally obtained and shouldn’t have been confiscated.
At the time, the RCMP said although they tried to minimize the damage to homes, it was necessary in some cases to ensure everyone was safe. The RCMP also said the confiscation of guns and ammunition was also necessary for public safety. They argued that the weapons they seized were improperly stored and in plain view and would have been easy targets for criminals taking advantage of an empty town.
It seems the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission agrees with those residents who complained that the RCMP took advantage of the situation.
On Feb. 12, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission issued a 122-page report stating: “While RCMP members, acting on their own initiative and with little guidance, may have acted with public safety in mind, they nonetheless failed to comply with legal requirements concerning the seizure of firearms.”
Now, in the interest of fairness, let me say that I have never owned a firearm but am on record that I support the long gun registry.
That being said, cut the RCMP some slack. In 2003, I was living in Kelowna when a wildfire destroyed 239 homes and forced the evacuation of more than 30,000 people. Like High River, the police were concerned about criminals taking advantage of the situation. Rightly so. Not only were there reports of theft in the evacuated areas, but from evacuation centres. Included in the stolen items were firearms, many of which were improperly stored.
So am I saying that in times of emergency the police have the right to conduct illegal search and seizures? Of course not, but at the same time I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. The RCMP in High River did a lot of good things. Yes, there were mistakes, ones that can be learned from.
It is also a good reminder of how important it is to store firearms in a safe and legally mandated manner. Barrhead is not immune to disasters. Next time it could be us, so let’s not make it easier for criminals to steal guns or put emergency personnel in the position of having to decide whether or not they should confiscate weapons.
