Policeman's Funeral - Was It Appropriate?

Ensign would like to welcome this contribution by Jacob Zunti a Saskatoon writer.

August 17
By Jacob Zunti

Some societies venerate their elder statesmen... Other societies pay homage to their monarchs. Still others place their religious leaders at the top of their respect hierarchy.

Last week an undercover police officer in Toronto was stabbed to death. His funeral, attended by an estimated ten thousand people, was given lead coverage on each of Canada's national TV Networks. Other news organizations have also devoted a great deal of attention to the story. Many of the attendees at the funeral were themselves employed in the policing professions in various communities on the continent. Others were family members of persons so employed. Still others were among that portion of the public who see the police as playing a vital role in their personal safety and protection.

The hearses at the funeral appeared to be longer, and more in number than I can remember seeing for John Diefenbaker's funeral... a state funeral.

The death of the police officer is a tragedy. So is the untimely death of a plumber or a taxi-cab driver. Did the officer's funeral warrant national news coverage in a nation of 30 million people? Should it have been the lead item on each of the national networks?

It appears that North American society venerates not its priests, professors, or politicians, but its police officers.

Perhaps this should not be surprising of a society with roots in the British concept of the "Rule of Law." Perhaps it should be even less surprising of a society whose citizens are trained from an early age in the philosophy of capitalism, the primacy of private property, and the efficacy of law that protects it. Perhaps it should be even less surprising in a society that is still a mass media society dominated by a small media monopoly that has most of its citizens fearing for their personal security - because crime coverage is cheap and dirty, easily sensationalized, and always brings up the ratings.

It is however, a phenomena I find troubling. Why is no one asking who is paying for those police officers to attend their fallen comrade's funeral? Why is no asking if we have not made it too easy for those police officers to attend?

Canada is today incarcerating more people per capita, for longer periods of time, than at any other time in its history. And in our neighbour to the south, the USA, there are 300% more people in prison per capita now than there were in 1975. Have we become that much less disciplined, that much more poorly behaved?

In another place and another time, fast fading from collective conscience, another people put great reliance in "law and order," and their police and military. They ended up preparing for, fighting and losing a very great war, having their cities pulverized by air bombings, and committing atrocities of mind-boggling proportions.

While I certainly won't claim that our veneration of police officers destines us to a similar fate, I find the criminal justice statistics I mentioned above very disconcerting. I for one would feel much more comfortable if our society gave similar or greater veneration to its judges, doctors, lawyers, criminologists, and civil libertarians... and hope I'm not alone in this sentiment.