(Canadian Press) - The Mounties appear to be shining up their tarnished image with new heights of transparency.
On Friday, RCMP from suburban Richmond took the unusual step of inviting the media to view the mangled wreckage of two vehicles involved in an accident that led to the death of a pregnant woman.
Emmanuella Cauchon, 33, was killed when her car collided with an unmarked police cruiser on Dec. 30.
In the days after the crash, her family spoke out about their doubts surrounding the police investigation and suggestions of who was at fault.
Police say the Mountie driving the cruiser had the green light at an intersection and that witnesses reported Cauchon had been speeding.
The RCMP also said the mother of two wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.
Cpl. Nycki Basra spoke to reporters invited to see the two mangled vehicles after Cauchon’s family had seen the wreckage and viewed pictures of the accident scene.
“This is in line with our commitment to be transparent,” Basra said as she stood in front of the twisted metal and glass heap that was Cauchon’s car.
Basra was speaking at the detachment from where four officers used a Taser on Robert Dziekanski — a confused and exhausted Polish immigrant who’d spent hours wandering around Vancouver International Airport last October.
A video of the Taser incident and Dziekanski’s last moments alive was shot by another traveller and viewed by millions of people around the world.
While it’s unusual for police to allow media to view such wreckage, Basra denied there was any connection to the criticism the force received after the Taser matter.
“Relating it back to other incidents is not relevant to why we are here today,” she said.
“There has been overwhelming concern as to which vehicle collided with which,” Basra said. “However, what I would like to point out is that would be really irrelevant to determining who entered the intersection contrary to the light signal.”
Lindsay Meredith, a marketing professor at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., said the RCMP appear to have no option but to be scrupulously honest given their “disastrous marketing and public relations image campaign over the last two years.”
He said the shine started to wear off the RCMP image in 2005 over the way the force handled the murders of four of their own officers in Mayerthorpe, Alta.
“It culminated in a peak disastrous PR event of the Tasering of the unfortunate Polish man at (Vancouver Airport),” Meredith said.
He believes the series of events has led the media and public to second guess everything RCMP officials say.
“You see an organization which is going into hyper-mode control to make sure that they manage this kind of … damage control.”
Meredith said such vigilant transparency may be the only way for the RCMP to reclaim their image.
“It takes many years to build corporate image for trustworthiness, transparency. It takes only one unfortunate incident to destroy that.”
Members of Cauchon’s family who viewed the vehicles were unavailable to comment on police statements.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Mofia means Family // Jan 6, 2008 at 12:30
Better than the mangled metal after the dust settles where are the witness to the event, surely there are some.
Members have been known to disregard witness testimony if it doesn’t line up with the story they want to tell.
I tell you be careful, look deeper and you will find what you are looking for. There is a standard that RCMP uses but it’s really below grade for the victims and above grade for the officers.
Ask for the statements and you will see how transparent they are as they move with this to appear as transparent.
Don’t be fooled they are aces at this.
2 Simon // Jan 12, 2008 at 12:22
An intelligent comment from someone who can’t even spell his own name correctly.
“Members have been known to disregard witness testimony if it doesn’t line up with the story they want
to tell.”
Which members? When did they do that? That is quite the conclusion presented without any evidence.
And how do you silence a witness? What would prevent these witnesses from calling the media, disclosing the truth, exposing the police lies, and receiving glory and fame?
What is stopping the “victim” or their families from suing the police and having the opportunity to fully question not only the police, but all the witnesses too?
It would be entirely inappropriate for the police to trot out a string of witnesses for the media before the investigation is complete; doing so would taint the evidence of other witnesses and the conclusions of any independent trier of fact.
The 6 o’clock news is not the proper arena for analysis of the appropriateness of police action; it is not a quest for positive public opinion.
Perhaps you should exercise some patience and wait for the full report to come out. Then you should read the report (assuming you can) and form your opinions.
3 habanero // Jan 19, 2008 at 17:39
You’re right Simon, but we are also doing our own investigation since from the start, the evidence didnt add up. The evidence doesnt lie. Everyone that have seen the cars knew right away the RCMP’s version dont add up.
4 Simon // Jan 21, 2008 at 12:17
I would assert that the untrained person could, when looking at vehicle wreckage, make some incorrect conclusions about how the damage was caused. I doubt that examination of vehicle damage leads to such “obvious” conclusions as you seem to have drawn.
I hope that you will seek appropriate expert advice in your quest to expose the corruption that must be so rampant in the RCMP that dozens of officers would lie to cover up a car accident.
5 GetReal // Jan 22, 2008 at 18:48
The RCMP do not have any insurance on their vehicles.
They are covered by the Federal govt and pay out of government funds for repairs or lawsuits. The police officers engaged in their duties are covered from personal lawsuits by the government. To what end would several officers try and cover up a mistake when it does not cost them anything if they were actually in the wrong? As for cursory examination of vehicle damage, accident reconstruction and expert opinion is not something you garner by osmosis or reading an internet article. They are real skills with an education component. Any conclusions without proper statement taking procedures, proper accident analysis, and related follow through are useless and misleading. Awaiting the various inquiries is prudent.
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