While I was in Vancouver working at the Olympics, I was working alongside some great people, both volunteer and otherwise. Some of them with a much maligned part of our day to day lives.
The men and women of Canada’s police services, primarily the RCMP, were some of my closest colleagues for the time I was at the games. I got to meet people from of course the RCMP, the Ontario Provincial Police (who are grappling with the loss of one of their own in the line of duty earlier this week), the Sûreté du Québec (Québec’s Provincial Police), Owen Sound Police, Edmonton Police and Treaty Three Police to name a few.
Working alongside these men and women that work to ensure the safety of the public from coast to coast on a daily basis not only reminded me of the important role they play, but gave me a look at the more human element of these people that are often maligned for simply doing their jobs.
While they have to maintain a standard of professionalism, when we did have chances to relax, they were seriously no different from you and me, really nice people that were always ready to share a laugh, share stories and even watch the game when things were quiet (There was no shortage of opportunities for that just about anywhere you went in town). Being able to discover the more human element of our country’s finest gave me just that much more respect for what they do and definitely a whole new attitude towards them (if ever I get pulled over for speeding or anything like that I’m definitely going to think twice before freaking out at them). That isn’t to say however that there are some that become overzealous and take things to an extreme that pushes the boundaries of what is reasonable, but the few that may do that are overshadowed by the many that treat the position with the responsibility and restraint it deserves.
They, like any one of us, are just doing their jobs. Granted that means exposing themselves to great personal risk and sometimes even making some judgement calls that we may not agree with or find popular, but again, it’s all a part of doing their job, a job that I can’t thank them enough for stepping up to do.
