ER visit shows side of police we should share more often
It was a weekday afternoon.
Unexceptional in many ways except that Margaret was spending it in the emergency department at Vancouver General Hospital. No one likes having to go to the ER, but the smallest consolation is that there’s usually hospital dramas unfolding before your eyes.
As Margaret sat waiting, a man escorted by four Vancouver police officers arrived. His hands were handcuffed behind his back. A chair was provided for the man. He sat quietly while the officers attended to whatever it is officers attend to when bringing someone to the hospital.
The usual riot of the emergency room activity swirled around this group of five, but they were the quiet eye in the storm. The handcuffed man seemed obliging and composed. The officers were calm and efficient.
Soon after, the man was escorted to the area beyond the waiting room, an officer guiding him by the elbow. That officer explained to the man that he’d be going in with the doctors now, that he was in good hands and that these people would help him. The handcuffed man nodded, thanked him and quietly vanished behind the doors.
Margaret would come to know that the man she saw being admitted at was the same man who, earlier that day, had gone on a rampage in downtown Vancouver. He’d coursed through the city breaking windows, threatening people, lunging with a knife at a pedestrian, and stabbing another man.
Margaret makes no comment on the man and his crimes. What caught her attention was the deportment of the attending officers. The handcuffed man wasn’t just an alleged suspect, it was entirely clear what he had done just hours before. But, where the police — inured as they are to troublemakers — might have been cold and cavalier, they were professional and compassionate.
Margaret was impressed enough by their conduct to send a note commending the officers to Chief Const. Adam Palmer. She wanted to impress upon him that, “your officer demonstrated a degree of humanity unexpected in the circumstances and that I am grateful that he is working with the police department.”
There’s much to love about this story. Even in instances of bizarre criminal conduct, seeing that magnanimity and professionalism within our constabulary is a good thing. That a citizen takes the time to acknowledge exemplary conduct is also wonderful.
That a dangerous person was released from the Fraser Correctional Centre just days before this rampage is another topic worthy of consideration.
As regular vacuuming and dusting aren’t compliances the police care about, my interface with the constabulary is almost nil.
I did, however, participate in a ride-along with the RCMP a few years ago.
Here’s what I learned: I’m grateful I’m not a cop. I’d have little patience for what they have to deal with.
There were several incidents during the nighttime ride-along where the officers demonstrated professional toleration. They not only had to deal with wildly unco-operative suspects, but they had to do so while members of the public offered loud criticism, all the while recording the proceedings on their cellphones.
We want our cops to be models of uninterrupted forbearance. Even when many of us couldn’t lay claim to the same.
Jane Macdougall is a freelance writer and former National Post columnist who lives in Vancouver. She writes on The Bookless Club every Saturday online and in The Vancouver Sun. For more of what Jane’s up to, check out her website, janemacdougall.com
THIS WEEK’S QUESTION FOR READERS
Let’s hear about your positive run-ins with the law.
Send your answers by email text, not an attachment, in 100 words or less, along with your full name to Jane at thebooklessclub@gmail.com. We will print some next week in this space.
ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S QUESTION:
Are you and your cousins “birds of a feather” or virtual strangers?
■ Have you heard of the expression double cousin? My mom’s sister married my dad’s brother. I considered my uncle and aunts offspring as double cousins. Is there such a thing? Eventually my father’s two brothers married my mother’s two sisters! ■According to Family Search, Franklin D. Roosevelt is my ninth cousin three times removed! He never made it to any of our family dinners, however. ■ My cousin’s son and grandson, Phil and Max, joined my daughter, her family and me at Whistler earlier in March. Because Phil’s family lives in Bozeman, Mont., we hadn’t seen each other since 2005 and the teenagers had never met. We spent one evening trying to decide who was first, second and removed. By the end of their visit, it didn’t matter. We just loved being together — skiing, eating, sharing family stories. ■ I have always had a great interest in ancestry and keeping in touch with my cousins — first, once removed, and second. During COVID, I organized a worldwide Zoom call with cousins living in Africa, Australia, the U.K., and other parts of Canada. It was a huge success with cousins ranging in age from their 30s to 80s. The most challenging part was a 21-hour time difference, so in Vancouver we went on at 3 a.m. The call went on for two hours and had rave reviews. Some first cousins met for the very first time. Definitely a great way to keep connected.