Canada's Finest?

Let me tell you something I have learned about cops.

I have formed an opinion about them because of a few of my own experiences;

A. I have friends from my school days who were on the Toronto Swat Team, on the Toronto Marine Unit, and another on the Durham Regional Force.

B. Plus, I had a few run-ins with the cops and our court system about 10-15 years ago that were all alcohol related. (This is one of the reasons I don't drink much anymore, I figure I drank enough before 50 to last me for anything over 50!)

Anyways, the problem with cops is that they all suffer from the same disease! You see, when a baby cop is in the police academy they are taught that their job is to "UPHOLD" the law!

Where we run into a problem is that every cop in the world, after he or she has been on the beat for a certain amount of time, has a dramatic shift in outlook and goes from being an "upholder of the law" to actually considering themselves to be the law.

(This might be partly because law enforcement officers live in a closed society where most if not all their friends are other cops, and also, the use of the power given to a police officer starts to go to their heads after a while.)

This, over a period of time, leads to an "Us vs. Them" mentality and is contagious to the point where eventually every cop is infected to a greater or lesser degree.

This also means that when one of them is in trouble, everyone else will close ranks to protect their own! (And please, please, don't insult my intelligence by telling me that cops don't lie!)

Now the purpose behind this whole story is to tell you about one of Canada's Finest who is now on the hot seat!

Out in western Canada there was an R.C.M.P. officer who arrested a young guy and took him to jail. (Just for arguments sake, we will call him Ian Bush)

It doesn't really matter what Ian was arrested for, since it was a minor offence, but rather it was the outcome that is serious and mysterious.

This young man, during the course of the arrest, was shot and killed by an R.C.M.P. officer (Paul Koester) in "self defense" after the man apparently became belligerent.


(This, by the way, was contrary to his nature, according to people who knew him.)

The whole point is that in an inquest being held a few years after the death, it just came to light that the young man who was killed was;

A. Handcuffed!

B. Shot in the BACK of the head at close range!

Here is some of the testimony so far:

Testimony today before Coroner Shane DeMeyer indicated there had been a violent struggle leading up to Bush being shot in the back of the head.

Sergeant Jim Hignell, a blood specialist, painted a picture to the jury of his interpretation of the crime scene. He said he believed that Bush was on top of Koester on a couch in the room.

Bush had Koester in a choke hold. Koester was able to draw his service revolver and beat Bush with the barrel end and then, fearing for his life, pulled the trigger.

No evidence has been introduced showing any bruise marks to Koester’s throat area.

Howard Rubin produced for the court a pair of life like statues and asked Sergeant Hignell to reproduce the struggle to the jury.

Hignell explained that he would have difficulty in getting himself into a position to fire the gun into the back of Bush’s head.

Under further cross examination Sergeant Jim Hignell testified that he spoke to RCMP Counsel last night.

What was said during that conversation is not known because of a client privilege.

The inquest was told that the struggle by Bush and Koester took place at about the seating level on the couch with Bush on top of Koester.

The shooting took place three blocks away from the arena where Bush and some friends had attended a hockey game; they had come out of the arena and were apparently drinking a beer when the police showed up.

When Bush failed to give his right name to Koester, he was taken to the detachment and then taken into the interrogation room.

Testimony will show that Koester said he turned on the tape machine to get a video and audio conversation of the event. Police would find out later there was no tape in the machine!!!!!

Constable Paul Koester, who is said to be stationed in Williams Lake, will testify tomorrow.

He was scheduled to appear today but Counsel agreed that it would be better to have all of his testimony and cross examination conducted at one time.

Koester is expected to testify that he tried to hit Bush with the barrel of the gun several times and then, fearing for his life, pulled the trigger as he was blacking out.

We will see what the rest of the inquest brings to light, but I'll leave you to draw any conclusions!

In the meantime, remember that old saying; "There's something rotten in Denmark."

Because if there is, it's probably the police force!

Your "hush, hush, and on the Q.T." scribe;
Allan W Janssen