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As a full term retired police officer who has investigated many fatal and serious collisions, I still feel passionate about making our roads safer for all. I have delivered many death messages, produced two powerful short films that have been shown literally to tens of thousands of people on the topic of road casualty reduction, and taught many officers on the principle and practice of fatal and serious crash scenes. I know something about the comment I wish to make. My concern is how we are managing our safety on our Cochrane roads. I fear our police officers are pressured to hand out tickets when roadside education could be used as an alternate in a majority of cases. Whatever happened to officer discretion? Clearly if the infraction merits a prosecution because the speed was too excessive or the failure to actually to stop at a stop sign was potentially dangerous, the officer has to do their duty. I wonder if our law enforcement members would themselves feel better about engaging our residents more in an instructive/educational manner and be recognised by their supervision as a recordable work credit? It is a cynical act to produce revenue in the manner that some tickets are handed out? This I believe would foster better relations, promote goodwill and remind us that they are representing us residents and are not there just to hand out tickets. In this very tight economy where many of us are struggling having lost our decent paying jobs should we feel a little more supported by our friends, the police. - Steve Fisher |
