Rent-A-Cops
Responding to:
RCMP seek to enlist auxiliary constables
North Shore News
Oh boy. This should be interesting. North Vancouver RCMP are looking to everyday people to help them in becoming auxiliary cops. What I take from this is that the North Shore will have a bunch of rent-a-cops or Paul Blarts (See Picture) serving the community. I understand the good intentions of the RCMP to get the community involved in such things as visiting schools and traffic patrol but it seems to me that the RCMP are just shrugging off duties that they see as minor. The community would be really pleased by seeing “real” officers at these events, rather than their next door neighbour parading as an officer, spreading the word of the RCMP. The North Shore could potentially have overweight, out of shape and lazy officers who don’t have a clue about the law protecting the streets. Oh wait, my mistake, we already have “professional” officers like that all over the GVRD. A potential problem arising from this would be a false sense of power obtained by the rent-a-cops. The RCMP are turning average people into auxiliary officers and by doing this, some new officers may take their new found power to a different level. They may abuse their power and embarrass the RCMP’s name (Not that it isn’t already tarnished). Obviously the new officers won’t have a great deal of power to work with but like I mentioned above, they may abuse the small amount of power they get. Overall, I think the idea isn’t bad, but the RCMP should really focus on doing the little things themselves instead of picking people off the streets.
Robbi Basran
The Capilano Remix Project 
I love how you referenced Paul Blart lol. As a resident of the North Shore, I wouldn’t mind having axillary cops, that is (as you stated) if they’re not abusing their power. Your post was really entertaining to read. Good job.
I think you brought up some good points about how auxiliary cops could potentially abuse their power. Personally I don’t think I would feel safe having a ‘rent-a-cop’ in place of a real one. If something did happen in a situation where they were the only authority figure present, they would be untrained and unaware of how to find a solution.
I agree, having a rent-a-cop for a police officer would make me feel safe either. Where police have the necessary “tools” to calm a situation, the “mall-cop” has a packet of quarters to call the police from the pay phone in a real emergency, like in the movie National Security.
But at the same time it’s a good oppournity for people who wants to be a cop to gain the experience. It might help them when they submit their resume. I should tell my friend to look into this.