City moves to curb cursing cops
Posted May 26, 2011 7:27 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Cursing, cussing and the use of “four-letter words” continues to be a problem for the Calgary Police Service.
Of the approximately 1,000 complaints filed in 2009, the vast majority involve griping about unprofessional behaviour from alleged foul-mouthed officers.
In a move to address the bad behaviour, the city’s police force has launched the “Stay in the Game” campaign to show officers they are in the public eye now more than ever, thanks to social media.
The goal of the program is to avoid bad behaviour from the onset, showing one bad run-in with an officer can undo any garnered goodwill.
Alderman John Mar sits on the police commission and tells 660News 80 per cent of the complaints were dealt with off the record, resulting in apologies or a promise of punishment.
However, Mar says in a city of one million people, to have only 1,022 complaints against the police is a good news story.
“If that’s the number-one concern that we have, and it’s not police officers tasering people or brutality, I would say Calgary is so far ahead of the game,” says Mar.
Calgary Police Association President John Dooks says police officers have always been held to a higher standard than other professions.
“To a certain degree we understand and accept that,” says Dooks. “We expect our officers to behave better in a confrontational situation than anyone else, whether that’s fair or unrealistic at times, that may be said to be true.”
While cursing is a valid complaint, Dooks tends to believe a good part of those complaints are from people who are trying to get out of an infraction.
Since the launch of the campaign last fall, officials say there has been a dramatic decrease in the amount of complaints.
