THE IRVINGS SUPPORTED THE DEMONTRATORS!!!

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Daily Gleaner | Editorials
As published on page C7 on June 1, 2006

City police officers to be investigated
In our view: Matter should be dealt with in timely fashion

A peaceful demonstration in downtown Fredericton last Saturday unfortunately had a less than peaceful outcome.

Four people were taken into custody and ticketed, and one of them alleges he was treated differently than the others because of his race.

We are glad to see Police Chief Barry MacKnight is taking this matter seriously and reacted in a positive manner right away.

Since a formal complaint has been filed by those who see themselves as victims in the incident, the matter will be studied by the police force's internal affairs office. There, determination will be made about whether the investigation should be done internally or handled by an outside agency.

A group of 30 protesters, mostly young adults, had marched from Queen Square to City Hall in an effort to bring attention to the problems facing immigrants and refugees in Canada. They handed out pamphlets along the way.

When the parade was over and the group had assembled at City Hall, they were asked to leave by members of the Fredericton Police Force who had watched them along the route.

The man who says he was singled out admits he may have asked the arresting officer pointed questions, but he did not expect to be grabbed by the arm, handcuffed and thrown to the ground. He was also asked if he was a Canadian citizen.

"Allegations of this nature are extremely serious," MacKnight said.

"These issues call into question the credibility of the policing agency unless they are dealt with properly and appropriately."

For the sake of the city's reputation and to preserve citizens' confidence in their police force, we hope the police are forthcoming about the investigation as it continues from stage to stage.

In many professions the investigation of a questionable incident has no bearing on public perception.

For police officers it is different. One incident gets careful scrutiny by the public and how it is handled helps determine public perception for a long time afterwards.

MacKnight said Fredericton is a relatively diverse community with many ethnic groups and those groups need to know police are able to deal with them fairly and with a high level of competency.

"We do not want to lose that confidence. Our ability to police this community effectively depends on the confidence the community has in us."

The investigation could take months to complete. In the meantime we will await the outcome and anticipate matters will be dealt with as they should be.