quote:

Originally posted by DeleteFromUsers Anyway, all those cops were OFF DUTY and not getting paid.

cops are on salary - why won't they get paid?

either way - this didn't bother me at all.

___________________
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His death was unfortunate but thats where it should end. Everything about this was a fucken joke. The sensationalized media coverage of this shows just how ass backwards everything is.

My issue isn't with showing support or having a public funeral. I totally agree with that and I think through the media and everything else that has already been done before the funeral even happened.

My issue is that the guy is already dead. We're not spitting on his grave by not shutting down the core of Toronto for a funeral. And yes this funeral makes fis family feel better. But, here's a real curve ball, use that money for something more productive and save lives that can be saved in the future. Or even if this whole death disturbs you we could go and spend it on mental health funding (something which has been drastically cut since the 70s and put many unsafe people on the streets) and give help to people so there's less instances of this in the future. There's irony in the fact that there's still 1000s of loonies like the killer out in the public in Toronto and we don't have the money to fund help for them, but we spend tons on a funeral to honour a guy that one of them killed. And at the end of the day it doesn't matter where the money came from for the funeral because it originated from tax payer dollars which could've been allocated elsewhere.

And I genuinely do feel bad for his family. But keep in mind this officer fully knew the risks when he joined the force and that his life could be taken. There's heroes that die everyday who never agreed to take that risk and they don't even make the paper, let alone get a city-wide funeral.

quote:

Originally posted by FunkyCrew cops are on salary - why won't they get paid? either way - this didn't bother me at all.

off duty!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...article1875096/

quote:

Originally posted by GGM My issue isn't with showing support or having a public funeral. I totally agree with that and I think through the media and everything else that has already been done before the funeral even happened. My issue is that the guy is already dead. We're not spitting on his grave by not shutting down the core of Toronto for a funeral. And yes this funeral makes fis family feel better. But, here's a real curve ball, use that money for something more productive and save lives that can be saved in the future. Or even if this whole death disturbs you we could go and spend it on mental health funding (something which has been drastically cut since the 70s and put many unsafe people on the streets) and give help to people so there's less instances of this in the future. There's irony in the fact that there's still 1000s of loonies like the killer out in the public in Toronto and we don't have the money to fund help for them, but we spend tons on a funeral to honour a guy that one of them killed. And at the end of the day it doesn't matter where the money came from for the funeral because it originated from tax payer dollars which could've been allocated elsewhere. And I genuinely do feel bad for his family. But keep in mind this officer fully knew the risks when he joined the force and that his life could be taken. There's heroes that die everyday who never agreed to take that risk and they don't even make the paper, let alone get a city-wide funeral.

I'm a big fan of morale. Every workplace could use a boost once in a while, including cops.

Even if we had a 'thank a cop day' or something like that, just how many people would actually do it? Probably not as much attention as this funeral would get, because it's human nature to pay more attention to dramatic events.

So we had Sgt Russell's funeral. And a lot of people had their chance to show public display of supporting the cops. So it cost a lot of money (which we don't know for sure who is going to pay for the funeral)

Consider this. The cops have taken a lot of battering and negative publicity in recent years with RCMP scandals and G20 thing and whatnot, all because of small percentage of bad cops tainting the image of police force as whole.

I think the cops could use a public 'attaboy' and 'thank you' right now. And the boost to their morale would be pretty big I'd bet.

When I was working overseas, my team received a 'to any Canadian soldier' mail. My boss decided to write back to this lady. And the lady replied back again, but this time with a huge box of homemade cookies. We were all blown away that a stranger decided to make a huge effort to support a bunch of strangers, and the cost of making those cookies plus the cost of mail would have made it pretty expensive for this lady.
We never asked for any public thanks, but it did make us feel good, that there are people out there that gives a damn about us and wishes us well. And I know it motivated me to work a little harder.

I'd bet right now, that every Metro cop is feeling a little better going to work today, because of what happened at Sgt Russell's funeral. So maybe they will work a little harder, and be a little more motivated to serve their community. Because an attaboy once in a while is a powerful thing. Maybe because of this, few more criminals get caught, or more lives saved and whatnot.

You can't put a price on morale.

^^^ Good counter argument Yohan and that is definitely true. I'd still say it was a bit over the top though in terms of inconvenience to the city as a whole and I'm sure associated expenditures. There's ways and places to mourn without being a roadblock to daily life for a few million people.

quote:

Originally posted by GGM ^^^ Good counter argument Yohan and that is definitely true. I'd still say it was a bit over the top though in terms of inconvenience to the city as a whole and I'm sure associated expenditures. There's ways and places to mourn without being a roadblock to daily life for a few million people.

we inconvenience millions of people quite a few times a year already.
is Santa Claus parade, or Pride more important than Sgt Russell's funeral?

quote:

Originally posted by Yohan we inconvenience millions of people quite a few times a year already. is Santa Claus parade, or Pride more important than Sgt Russell's funeral?

Those bring in tons and tons of money for the city and businesses instead of spend it. They also take place on the weekend when there's little business to disrupt so cost to the average tax payer and business is small. Their planning takes place months in advance and route closures are posted on the affected streets, notices sent out etc. which make them even less disruptive. The funeral planning was rushed, disrupted Toronto's major highways not just a few streets, and in some cases the published closure wasn't even matching what took place. Not too mention that they picked the absolute worst time of the day to do it (morning Rush hour). Things like the G20 and this in my eyes send a giant F you message to Torontonians saying "hey we'll do what we want with your land, just sit back and watch".

I totally see the point in mourning and moral boosting but the extent they took it too was just over the top. All I know is if I ever go I don't want to be thought of as disrupting millions of people after I'm already dead...

Last edited by GGM on Jan-19-2011 at 21:46

quote:

Originally posted by Yohan we inconvenience millions of people quite a few times a year already. is Santa Claus parade, or Pride more important than Sgt Russell's funeral?

very good points Yoahn, could have not said it any better!

___________________
Just surrender yourself to the rhythm,
With your hands up in the sky,
Feel the energy deep inside your system
And leave this world behind...

I'm glad there was a show of support/respsect and it is tragic that this man lost his life.

I am surprised however that we had what was an equivalent of a "state funeral".

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