Bouquet...
To John Jones, the technical adviser to the ethics committee of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, who quit Thursday over controversial corporate sponsorship of the cops’ annual conference last year.
Guess which company was one of the sponsors? Believe it, or not, it was Taser International, the firm that makes the stunguns the RCMP have conceded, can lead to death.
What could this group of cops, composed of police chiefs and senior police executives from across Canada and representing most of the country’s 220-plus force, been thinking of?
Is there no room for common sense? The use of the Taser by police is currently a hot debate. The cop conference should have showed some discretion in its sponsors. It was ignorant timing.
Jones, an expert of police ethics, who advised the committee for three years as a volunteer, said good bye after the ethics’ committee’s efforts to stop the practice of endorsing certain sponsors was rebuffed by the board of directors.
“I said in that case, I can’t remain a member. (Such sponsorship) doesn’t pass the smell test,” said Jones, author of Reputable Conduct: Ethical Issues in Policing and Corrections.
Remember that Polish immigrant at the Vancouver airport who died after being tasered? The public sure does. And that cop convention should have taken that into account.
Dart...
To the not-so-model father who sold his 14-year-old daughter for $16,000 by buy beer and meat.
Marcelino de Jesus Martinez pleaded “no contest” in a Salinas, Calif. court to felony child endangerment..
Prosecutors said Martinez and the family of Margarito de Jesus Galindo negotiated a marriage and dowry contract. The girl lived with Galindo for a week before authorities closed in on the deal.
This sort of practice may be acceptable in some countries. And not to pass judgement on other cultures, but this bizarre behaviour is not acceptable in a civilized society.
Martinez was nabbed when he went to police to get his daughter out of the arms of Galindo because the $16,000 wasn’t paid.
Among the charges laid: procuring a child for lewd acts, aiding and abetting statutory and child endangerment. He faces up to 10 years. But chances are the 36-year-old dad will be jailed on May 7 for a year, followed by deportation to whatever country he hails from.
Dart...
To an Edmonton senior who’s earned the reputation as being one of Canada’s most notorious drunks on the roads.
Robert James Dornbusch, 66, was recently sentenced to six years in the slammer after being convicted of his 18th drunk-driving offence. He was described in court as a “terror on the streets.”
Now that’s an understatement. If there ever was an argument to have a repeat drunk driver declared as a dangerous offender - in other words, throw the key away – Dornsbusch is that candidate.
The senior was charged Christmas Day, 2007 with impaired driving causing bodily harm and two counts of driving while disqualified.
This menace crashed into another vehicle in Edmonton around 1 p.m. when his blood/alcohol level was more twice the legal limit of .08.
Court that at the time heard he had six out-standing suspensions on his driver’s licence and nine outstanding criminal suspensions.
When Dornsbusch is released from prison, will he do it again? Chances are, yes. Judge Leo Wenden said any prospect of rehabilitation is non-existent.
Crown prosecutor Julie Morgan said the pathetic drunk “ . . . is an incorrigible, unrepentant, repeat offender. He is a terror on the streets. His criminal record is horrendous.”
God help those who meet him at the next intersection once his jail bars swing open.
Rick Zemanek is an Advocate editor.