Experienced Cop Shoots Self in Foot Raises Questions About Public Safety

An experienced police officer in Canada’s largest city accidentally shot himself in the foot during a routine training exercise yesterday, making you wonder just how safe it is to have this fellow wandering the streets with a gun.

The 33-year-old police officer’s gun accidentally went off as he put it back in his holster, after a gun range exercise at the Toronto Police College, in Toronto, Canada.

Rest assured, the cop is going to be okay, according to police, he was alert and breathing when taken to hospital, with non-life-threatening injuries. All that appears to really have suffered his is pride.

Or more likely, the public’s perception of just how safe it is to have gun wielding cops in the city.

All of “Toronto’s finest” have to go through the yearly gun range drills to carry their firearm – even the highest cop in the land, the chief must do the annual gun range.

Yet, there is no word as to what happens when a police officer – especially an experienced one – fails the drill.

Not that we are questioning the need for law enforcement officers to protect themselves and the public by carrying guns. One of the unfortunate ills of our modern society is the level of weaponry criminals have at their disposal – from pistols and sawed off shotguns, to fully automatic weapons with armour piercing rounds – crime reports read like movie scripts, but the firepower is anything but fiction.

However, when an experienced cop shoots himself during a regular drill, one must question just how effective the training is?

Most police in cities and towns across North America never have to draw their weapon. And those that have, often say they never want to do that ever again.
But when a police officer holsters his or her sidearm before heading out on their shift, we trust that police officer knows how to use that sidearm impeccably well. Because all it takes is one mistake, and innocent lives could end instantly.

We wish the officer from the Toronto Police Service well, and hope he gets better soon. And we hope that this incident alerts the top brass at that police service that maybe, just maybe, they should take a long, hard look at their weapons training program, to make sure embarrassing incidents like this don’t turn into public tragedies.

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Want to Provide Security for a World Leader – No Experience Required

In Canada’s largest city, a security firm handling part of the protection services for the world’s most powerful leaders is hiring – no experience required!

After a background check by Canada’s federal police service – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and a mere ten days of training – you too can be wearing the dark sun glasses, while protecting the likes of American President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and 18 other world leaders, during the G8 and G20 Summits in late June.

WOW – sign me up for that job!

It even pays more than a typical security gig. Most security companies in the city pay on average from $10 to $15 per hour, and you’re lucky if you get full-time hours if you’re a rookie. Providing security to the G8 and G20, even the new kids on the block will earn $20 to $24 per hour, plus overtime for two-weeks.

And you may even get to take a bullet for someone!

Even the local Toronto Police Service is only getting a condensed special training session of ten days for the event. Many are used to catching speeders, investigating lost wallets, and handling the occasional domestic dispute – the additional training is to bring them up to speed on how to keep the world leaders from harm’s way.

Perhaps it is security by numbers instead of experience – over 2,000 police are expected to be on hand to protect 20 people for a two-day affair.

Granted, the RCMP – which are in charge for the most part – protect Canada’s Prime Minister all the time, and when was the last time we heard of anything going wrong?

Well, there was that time when the wife of a then-current Canadian Prime Minister was confronted by a home invader, at the Prime Minister’s official residence. Back in 1985, Aline Chretien came face-to-face with the intruder, who was armed with a knife. Prime Minister Jean Chretien and his wife locked themselves in their bedroom, until the RCMP came to take the man away – though if they were doing their job in the first place he should never have got that close to the Canadian leader in the first place.

Even with 2,000 law enforcement types in the area, with that kind of track record, I’d be skeptical whether or not I was safe if I were a world leader.

Though the areas where the world leaders will be – essentially most of the downtown core – will be shut down for the duration of the summits.

Still, a mere ten days of training, and no experience required?

So how come it is costing over a billion Canadian dollars to secure this thing anyway?

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Toronto Humane Society – Humane Care?

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Last November, Canada’s largest city witnessed something most unusual – the very people charged with taking care of the city’s injured and abandoned animals was itself facing charges of animal cruelty.

On November 26, the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) and officers from the Toronto Police Service raided the Toronto Humane Society’s River Street shelter. They claimed the shelter was no place for the humane treatment of animals, as they carted off numerous cats and dogs which were kept in overcrowded conditions. There were reports that some of the animals were in such cramped conditions, they were sleeping in their own feces and urine.

Five of the highest ranked Toronto Humane Society leaders – including former President Tim Trow – were charged with animal cruelty.

Today, the employees charged were allowed back inside the animal shelter, for the first time since this oddball case erupted.

What’s really odd about this is the fact that the Toronto Humane Society might not be the safest place for a sick, injured or abandoned animal.

Every summer, there are always stories about some jerk-ass that leaves his poor dog sweating in a car with all the windows closed on one of the hottest days of the year. People like that deserve to be charged with animal cruelty, and banned forever from ever owning a pet.

But those who work and volunteer at animal shelters usually are the least likely to be suspected of animal cruelty – if we suspect them of anything, it is having a big heart where our four-legged friends are concerned.

So how did one of the largest domestic animal shelters in Canada end up facing animal cruelty charges?

The problem isn’t the hearts of those managing the Toronto Humane Society, or rather – it is their hearts, just in a different kind of way.

The philosophy of the Toronto Humane Society has been for some time, to avoid euthanizing animals as much as possible – keep the stray and abandoned animals. Not a bad philosophy, and it shows just how big the hearts of those running the Toronto Humane Society are.

Most shelters will keep strays and abandoned animals only for a set period of time, hoping someone adopts the animals before the time runs out.

The Toronto Humane Society’s philosophy, while their hearts are in the right place, actually causes more harm than good. Because eventually, as more animals end up at the shelter, overcrowding ensues, and you end up with a shelter not fit for any living thing.

Yes, it is always hard to end a cute cat or dog’s life – but sleeping in one’s own urine and feces isn’t any better. In fact it is worse, because that’s how diseases spread, not just among the animals, but there is also a health risk to the staff, the volunteers and the visitors to the shelter as well.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) originated in a cat in China, and quickly spread around the globe. Germ warfare once was only a human-made thing, now we really do live in a society where all living things are at greater risks of spreading microscopic killing machines across species. Thanks to our increased use of antibiotics and other medicines over the years, microbes have become more resistant to these chemical cures, and so the fear of catching something from Fluffy is a legitimate concern.

Which is why the OSPCA did the right thing in forcing a cleanup of the Toronto Humane Society. What both the OSPCA and the Toronto Humane Society really need to do is better educate the public on the enormous responsibility of pet ownership.

Animal shelters wouldn’t overflow with unwanted pets if people knew just how great a responsibility pet ownership was, before they became pet owners, and realized they weren’t able to do so.

Raising a cat or a dog is a lot like raising a child, the only difference is, eventually the child will grow up, move out and have his or her own life. A dog or a cat – or any other pet – is dependent on their owner for life, for their life.

The most “humane” society’s are the ones with the biggest public education campaigns, not the ones which overcrowd their animals, because they can’t do the right thing.

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