4 RCMP officers killed in pot bust

[Jared]

LMAO

I'm going any where near this

[AD]

Your personal insults are unnecessary AD… as I said, I am sorry if my post offended you but I certainly don’t feel I’ve warranted a label of “stupid” or “idiot”

Just as you called those 4 murdered public servants doing their job to protect society 'ill-prepared', 'ignorant', and 'tragic Darwin recipients.' Not to mention you claim they fu©ked up the raid. The guy got caught didn't he? The drugs were found, weren't they?

I didn't insult you.

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[Jaimoe]

don't threaten me or i'll call your RCMP friend

ah he can't be much of a cop/pig anyway if he hasn't busted you yet.

He checked my file a while back. I was alarmed that I even had a file.

[elemeno]

i have a nice "file" myself but only one conviction

- j-walking in guelph. carried a fine of $75. really i got the fine because i called the cop an a$$hole and he couldnt find anything else to write me up for. now that cop was a hero

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

ah he can't be much of a cop/pig anyway if he hasn't busted you yet.

There's the rub - nobody's really encouraged to look at cops, positively or negatively, as real people (along with teachers, priests, that lady at the grocery store checkout,and so on) - we do sometimes need to be reminded. Helps keep a healthy perspective on power. Power dehumanises - we think we can wield it, but the best we can do is prevent it from doing too much harm - if, that is, we're more concerned with being human. I always try to get a smile out of a cop when I can - God knows they can use them.

But I should probably get off this thread before I go and say something uncircumspect.

[Jared]

if there all dead i'd say they fu©ked up the raid, and they don't even know yet if the guy killed himself or if the killed him, and for that matter the whole thing sounds alittle fishy, when they mention the fact that the cops went in at 10 am, the bodies were found at 2 pm thats 4 hours

[Esau]

Sad news.Any loss off life before its time is sad.

I'll stay away from the labor workers not being heros thing,cuz I know better.But,I will say that law enforcement does take (on a regualr basis) a higher risk and in my opinion are under-paid.

The guy got caught didn't he? The drugs were found, weren't they?

Sort of,he was found dead with 4 officers,also dead and but it doesn't say if the police shot the guy or if he shot himself.

If they killed him I'd agree he was caught,but since its obvious (in my eyes) he took his own life,I'd say he wasn't and got away with four murders.Although this is how I percieve murder/suicide.

[AD]

My point was that their mission was fulfilled, albeit with a very sad ending. And I'd even venture to say that the guy with the rifle fu©ked up the raid more than the RCMP officers did.

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[Jared]

i'm sure there first mission is to go home every night

[secondtube]

so who is more a hero - the cop who dies trying to rescue an old lady from a burning building or the cop who gets smoked during a drug bust??

the fisherman contends with water as his work place hazard.

the cops contend with bullets. if you don't want to chance getting shot pick up a fishing pole assholes!

I agree with this.

I dont agree with the media trying to portay this as an issue regarding marijuana. Facts are, if four cops died, precautions were not taken when they should have been.

obviously that was not a mom and pop shop. the cops OBVIOUSLY new that.....its was OBVIOUSLY organized crime...

so why be put in a position where the could have happened....

ahhh well, another black mark on the decriminalization...

[CyberHippie]

Although some may have posted firstly, about the loss of life; others of the idea of police mistake; others, of the stike against pot legislation; really, all are legitimate issues within the scope of this event.

Well said.

Incidently when this topic came up during lunch today, people right away began talking about the marijuana legislations. I think the media has already made this about Marijuana, not so much the tragic incident of some crazy fu©ker killing for rcmp officers.

What's my point? Not sure, just discussing...

[SaggyBalls]

ACTUALLY - their mission would be to get the offender arrested. the drugs are never going to hit the street - at worst they'll hit the lungs of some police officers.

I think the police are underpaid and mistreated/marginalized by the public...there's no reason to have to call a cop an a$$hole, instagator...but there's no reason for that cop to treat you like sh!t if he did. it's just jaywalking. silly rule. just as silly as a pot bust.

I agree that the thousand odd people that die in the workplace deserve just as much respect as these 4 police officers. I think that the harsh sentiments in this thread are ridiculous. We've heard about this for the past day and considering that we come here because of the people and ideas, we all understand that a loss of life of our public servants - or anybody working for the betterment of the community they're in - or anybody at all for that matter is unfortunate.

I will admit that when i heard about the deaths i thought 'that sucks.' which concisely sums up sorrow and the issue of 'what an unfortunate loss' and then i thought 'that decrim bill's going to die' and today in the paper I hope the decrim bill dies because it's got harsher penalties for grow ops...and this is just the first crack...the only way to get the finger in the dyke is to decriminize the whole thing and get organized crime out of the way. just think - if people could write off their grow ops as legitimite businesses there could be a lot more people taking loans out to set up a grow op and actually afford to get their feet on the ground. I know i'd do it.

not to change the tone to a pro-marijuana thread, but it's coming down to a time where we just need to cut out the crap and get society to a better place and telling people 'no' will just make them push back.

i think it's unforunate and silly that we've got to a point of anger over this thread and we all deserve to take a second and step back, give these officers the respect they deserve and send out some love.

my cousin is a police officer.

good vibes to all those that felt sorrow for their friends and felt worry for all their friends.

good vibes out to everybody that felt like their lives would be changed by this incident

and good vibes to everybody that pricked their ears up and made a sound point or thought at all.

marge - write a letter to the editor of a newspaper. i'm sure somebody'll read it and appreciate it. I sure did. that's an interesting thought and spin on this bit of sensational news...nobody can argue that this was in fact a massacre. nobody came in to kill kill kill. they just came in to raid raid raid. it was a case of self defence...defending personal freedom and psychological space...that guy had serious head problems by the way. unstable. i bet weed helped him with that.

you folks should chill out at least a bit. you're too smart to bicker over something like this.

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[larry jr.]

I agree with AD's point that this story shouldn't have anything do with the ramifications on pot decriminalization. Four police officers were shot and killed by a dangerous,criminal a$$hole. That's the story...what happened, and how to prevent it from happening again. It's tragic.

However, as it's been noted, the media and various pundits are already making this into an issue surrounding the impending pot legislation, so it's fair to speak about that also. After all, many of us know people whose lives were unjustly messed up because police officers, who were doing their jobs, busted them for something that they should have never been busted for (no, I'm not equating murder with a criminal record).

As someone who strongly believes that the criminalization of pot is very unjust, I have a vested interest in making sure this tragic story doesn't reverse legislation aimed at making things a little more just and sane.

The other issue here, is that if pot were legalized (vs. decriminalized) this wouldn't have happened. Legalizing pot kills organized crime that depends on pot.

[PalacePrincess]

I agree that the thousand odd people that die in the workplace deserve just as much respect as these 4 police officers.

i don't. those people died from ACCIDENTS. they fell off boats, into manure pits, whatever. they didn't have someone take a gun and MURDER them. they died because of human error, faulty equipment, inexperience, etc. -- no one maliciously took their lives from them with full intent to do so.

anyone who dies in the workplace, yes, deserves sympathy and all of that. any untimely death is tragic, and i will feel bad for the victims and their families. but i don't think accidental death in the workplace is a correct comparison to this issue at all. anyone who dies in the line of duty -- risking their own life being taken from them at the hands of another human being (cops, military), or anyone who loses their life trying to save someone else's (firemen), deserves HONOUR and RESPECT. fishermen, construction workers, oil riggers, yup, they're doing a service to the community, but they're doing it to get PAID. you have to have a certain amount of passion and conviction and desire to pursue an occupation that involves risking your life to help better a community, becoming a cop or fireman is not something you can really effectively do just for money.

as much as i hate pig cop behaviour, as much as i think it's dumb pot is illegal, i am not for one second going to feel anything but awful for any officer that gets murdered like that. i am also going to have respect for someone who is willing to do something that i sure as hell won't, like risk my life to deal with criminals and thugs.

The other issue here, is that if pot were legalized (vs. decriminalized) this wouldn't have happened. Legalizing pot kills organized crime that depends on pot.

i don't see why everyone thinks what happened is going to kill the pot is legal bill. if anything, doesn't it just support why it should be legal? on the flip side of that, i heard an argument sort of about this the other day -- if pot does become legal, it will be naive to think that organized crime will go away. they will just move on to some other drug.

[GWB]

drugs kill.

[Basher]

The fact is that this grow operation would not exists if pot was legal.

I feel for the families and coworkers of these officers. It is a terrible loss that is the result of terrible laws and the accessibility of terrible weapons.

[larry jr.]

I know you love the irony:

http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks/2005/02/28/

[paisley]

I'm truly sorry about the terrible loss of life, especially that they're so young... but who the hell ordered those kids to go charging into a large scale grow-op in marked cars and to park right outside the doors of the place?

why was it 4 rookies sent in? raiding anyone's house for any reason is something I'd call pretty dangerous, one would think particularly moreso when you're dealing with organized crime (like busting an enormous gro-op out in the country, not a table in someone's basement)... shouldn't there have been at least one if not more experienced officers along to help organize things?

sad story

[edit to add: have to agree that why anyone is being killed over pot in this day and age is beyond me... take away the black market and you take the money out of it and obviously the motive for murder]

[AD]

The fact is that this grow operation would not exists if pot was legal.

It is a terrible loss that is the result of terrible laws and the accessibility of terrible weapons.

It's a bit of a stretch to say this happened because pot is illegal. Pot's never been legal in our modern society so it's just your speculation saying that.

Agreed about the access to weapons point.

SOmeone brought this up on another board and it's kinda interesting, don't know if I totally buy it, but it goes to question the logic of linking the killings to pot. If it were 4 police officers called to a domestic abuse situation, would everyone be up in arms about the evils of marriage?

Just food for thought, like I said I'm not sure I buy that argument, but the parallels are kind of there...

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[GWB]

like i told bill

[Basher]

Well, I didn't say "this happened because pot is illegal", I said this wouldn't have happened if pot was legal. There is a difference, and although it may appear to be a small one I contend it is not.

This happened during the enforcement of anti-pot laws, so if these laws did not exist then this does not happen.

[Basher]

And to this quote:

"If it were 4 police officers called to a domestic abuse situation, would everyone be up in arms about the evils of marriage?"

No, but real idiots could be up in arms about the evils of domestic abuse laws.

[Esau]

why was it 4 rookies sent in? raiding anyone's house for any reason is something I'd call pretty dangerous, one would think particularly moreso when you're dealing with organized crime (like busting an enormous gro-op out in the country, not a table in someone's basement)... shouldn't there have been at least one if not more experienced officers along to help organize things?

Although I don't dispute your point of them being rookies and there being a higher ranked officer present,but you must take in account that alot of these rural northern communities have only RCMP dispatchments and usually not alot of hard crime like this.This was 130 kms northwest of Edmonton,I've never been there myself but from traveling north of that I know that most places don't have task force size police stations,if a station at all.

[AD]

This happened during the enforcement of anti-pot laws, so if these laws did not exist then this does not happen.

The cops were originally there on a stolen property call. There were no previous drug convictions on the guy's sheet. It was only after they were there that they discovered the grow.

If marijuana were legal, it would still be grown somewhere right? And people would still want it. And people that couldn't afford it might try to steal it? There are lots of violent acts involving legal goods, I think the fact that a grow-op was found on this farm is clouding everyone's vision; the real crime is the murder of 4 cops, regardless of why they were there. Yeah people are gonna talk pot laws, but I don't buy the argument that making pot legal will get rid of crime related to drugs. This guy was crazy right? There are lots of other crazy people out there too.

Bah. I think I'm talking myself in circles now.

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