Thursday, June 7, 2012
FOLLOWUP TO THEFT & MARIJUANA CHARGES AGAINST LOCAL OFFICER
Today's Waterloo Region Record has this story: "Local police nab one of their own in sting". This is in regards to an ongoing and lengthy case involving Officer Andrew Robson who is alleged to have stolen a small quantity of marijuana for his own use, that he was supposed to have turned in. I had reported on it here in the Advocate last January 26/12.
This case has some disturbing elements to it. Firstly I've always been suspicious of police entrapment. That clearly as described in the Record's story is what occurred here. Secondly I wonder why the Police Association has abandoned him according to the Officer's lawyer. Thirdly a plea bargain was allegedly offerred which would have seen the criminal charges dropped but Officer Robson would have had to resign from the force. Is there more to this whole issue? Are the Regional Police trying to get rid of him for some other reasons? I don't believe that this would be the first time the Regional Police have made the decision to get rid of an Officer who isn't to their liking. Usually however that's why the Police Association steps in to protect individual officers from alleged managerial abuses. The trial is set for July 9/12.
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There is far more to this story. Are they dealing with the disease or the symptom?
ReplyDeleteA very good question.
ReplyDeleteOfficer Robson is a hero. He received a commendation for saving a man's life at great risk to his own. The family sent him thank you cards. He volunteered, on his own time, to read to school children, to spend time with handicapped children. He was proud to be a police officer and serve his community. He needed help, he asked for help, WRPS response was to set him up when he needed them most.
ReplyDeleteWow! Hopefully this officer's good traits will come out at trial. I am assuming the help is in regards to substance abuse. If he voluntarily came forward looking for help then giving him that assistance would be the right thing to do. Is there some other reason that senior officers may want him gone?
ReplyDeleteNone that we are aware of. The help was partially for the substance abuse but it stemmed from what has since been a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder resulting from his being first-on-scene at a helicopter crash over 3 years ago. He knew he needed help. Apparently WRPS does NOT have a PTSD awareness &/or assistance policy so he self medicated resulting in the abuse. After the arrest he immediately checked himself into a treatment program for his addictions and then into a 2 month intensive PTSD treatment program, both at his own expense. He still desparately needs psychological help for the PTSD but nothing will help as long as he has to continually re-live the event with these charges and court appeartances dragging on. It also doesn't help that he has incurred significant debt paying for his defense. Now he faces losing the job he loved, a possible criminal record, ongoing PTSD and crippling flashbacks, and now bankruptcy. IF WRPS had helped when he asked then none of this would have happened.
ReplyDeleteI can only pray that this will all be resolved soon and that WRPS and the Association take responsibility for what is clearly a workplace "injury" and should have been handled accordingly.
Thank you for allowing me to get this off my chest.
You are very welcome and I hope that Officer Robson's lawyer will be able to make a strong case at trial. Best of luck.
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DeleteAre you kidding me? All CSt Robson had to do was turn in the marihuana given to him. Is that too high of a standard for a police officer? Not to steal items he comes across during his duty? He is a thief plain and simple. Too argue he is addicted to marihuana only after he gets caught borders on ridiculous. Every Police service including WRPS has extensive Employee Assistance Programs in place that offer extensive counseling and treatment. Again-very convenient that he only reveals PTSD when he is arrested. This is quite common for criminals as he has no possible defence for stealing the drugs. WRPS should be commended for tackling this issue head on. Bottom line is that if he is using drugs he's buying them- if he's buying them he's doing it from a drug dealer. Police officers cannot put themselves in a position where a criminal can compromise them. We cant have our police doing business transactions with drug dealers and stealing from the community.
ReplyDeleteGary J. : First off there are many more recent postings regarding Constable Robson than this five month old one. Please feel free to comment on the November ones etc.. Regarding your belief that officers should be held to high standards; that is pretty difficult to argue with and yes I have to agree in principle. That being said if you read many of the comments concerning Officer Robson, it appears as if he's got a lot to offer by the way of public service (volunteerism & heroism etc.) despite clearly having a major problem that absolutely must be addressed before he could resume his duties as a police officer. My concern has been how the WRPS has handled this. According to another commenter they did not have a program dealing with PTSD. Hopefully all these issues will be clarified at trial and whatever the outcome Officer Robson can begin to heal. Without any prejudice to officer Robson I can readily believe that many honest upright citizens simply are not cut out for the often nasty and sometimes ugly side of life that police officers see regularily.
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