A goodbye to Dick

Two police stories of note today.

The first is involving the two people who were found dead from gunshots in the back of a pick-up near Avondale. Not to make light of a tragic situation, but I love VOCM's "story" ( I'm not sure I can count five sentences as a story) about what happened. But one of those five sentences is a doozy.

"Officially, RCMP are not saying whether it was a murder-suicide, but they don't believe anyone else was involved."

Then it was....? Aliens? Personally, I'm thinking seals. They're getting arrogant, the little buggers, after Paul McCartney's appearance on Larry King. If the bastards learn how to drive, then murder/car jacking is next.

Call it a murder-suicide or don't, but do not do this wishy-washy, half-assed thing that appears in this story. It looks ridiculous.

Secondly, the big news of the day, is that Richard Deering is no longer Chief of the RNC. Which seem to have caught everyone by surprise. However, while there is surprise he's gone, I'll be astonished if there is much in the way of tears. As I've said before, the media in town didn't like him, I've heard that a lot of the officers on the force didn't care for him (two lawsuits are at least partial proof of that). And I bet he was becoming a nuisance for the provincial government as well.

Clearly, there is some weirdness going on. New chief Joe Browne said he was surprised, so this appears to have come out of the blue. That's also backed up by Justice Minister Tom Marshall's reluctance to talk about why Deering is leaving. "Private reasons" is only going to cut it so far. It's a legitimate question to ask if he's going to keep getting paid for the next year. It's legitimate to wonder if the recent Auditor General criticisms had anything to do with it.

I suspect it will all come out eventually. Too many people disliked Deering. Someone on the force or in government is going to leak it sooner or later.

I'm glad to see he's gone. He did some good things, but he was too much of a distraction. I don't take glee out of this because "screw the pigs" or any such foolishness. It's one of those things as you get older, you tend to appreciate police a little more. I've changed my mind on them handling firearms, for example. I was against it initially, because I didn't think much of the professional ability of the police. I still have my concerns. But hey, if you're going to ask these guys to go and break up a domestic disturbance when one of them is out of his mind on Oxy and might have a weapon, then they least you can do is give them guns.

No, I take some small glee out of this because I always thought Deering was a jerk. I know some who liked him, and that's fine. But he always rubbed me the wrong way. Too quick tempered and petty for my liking. So I'm glad he's gone. Hopefully Browne can do a better job.

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