EDITORIAL CRITICIZES THE WATERLOO REGIONAL POLICE SERVICES BOARD

Where to start. There is just so much bad that one can point out regarding our alleged civilian oversight of the Waterloo Regional Police. First of all the board is a joke. Granted they only meet once a month, but still a $10,800 annual honorarium. That's a pretty obvious indication as to exactly how much oversight, much less serious thought or effort are going to go into their work. Keep in mind these are NOT everyday, salt of the earth citizens doing this for the benefit of all. Hell no it's just patronage albeit on a much less grand scale than the senate. Kim Denouden got defeated at the last municipal election. This was just a bone that was thrown to her to keep her name (albeit rarely) in the limelight.

Last Thursday's Waterloo Region Record had an editorial titled "Police board owes the public more". News flash: they've always owed the public more and they've never delivered. One cop scandal after another and we get deafening silence. Massive expenditures on infastructure and we hear nothing. Now the province wants local forces to fork over more taxpayers dough to equip all the cops with Tasers. Oh good, now the bullies on the force can find new and innovative ways to assault citizens who stand up for their rights. I'd be willing to bet that there will be a lottery started to see which police force manages to kill their first citizen with a Taser. The Mounties of course can't play as they've already done it.

Maybe our police board is still reeling from the royal screwup they were involved in back in the Sid Brown days. The police were out of control with SWAT teams attacking the Henchmen motorcycle club, destroying their rental accomodations and then assaulting them when they were in custody. Our police board fired their new Chief (Brown) mostly because he was unpopular with all the senior officers who got bypassed for the job. Sid was scapegoated and boy did the taxpayers pay big time for the board's stupidity. Let's see now who was in charge of the region at that time? Same fellow? O.K. the Record are correct. We the public are owed transparency and accountability. It's not happened before and most probably won't as long as regional politicians are in charge.