bah....they aren't getting judged harsh enough! killing innocent people???

lliott asks public not to unfairly judge RCMP

Updated Sun. Mar. 22 2009 3:09 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The Canadian public should not unfairly judge the RCMP for its handling of the Robert Dziekanski incident without having a better understanding of the challenges of modern-day policing, says Commissioner William Elliott.

"I think the expression, 'Walk a mile in my shoes,' comes to mind," Elliott said Sunday, following a brief visit to Kandahar.

While the RCMP continues to deal with the fallout from an inquiry into Dziekanski's death, Elliott has called on the public to wait for "a sober, sound examination of the facts and the circumstance" before forming negative opinions of the national police force.

The inquiry has produced RCMP testimony that has left the public highly skeptical of the threats the officers faced the day the Polish immigrant was Tasered, and later died, at the Vancouver airport on Oct. 14, 2007.

Earlier this month, testimony from Const. Kwesi Millington brought laughter and heckling from the public gallery, after he demonstrated the way Dziekanski supposedly threatened RCMP officers with an office stapler that day.

The inquiry lawyer asked the RCMP constable how "four healthy, young officers" could have felt threatened by a stapler when they were armed with guns and wearing bullet-proof vests.

On Sunday, Elliott said the public must understand the very quick decisions that RCMP officers are forced to make when working on the job.

"They don't realize how quickly things happen and they don't realize how quickly often -- unfortunately -- bad things happen," he told reporters at Kandahar Airfield on Sunday.

"I would just ask Canadians to reflect for a minute before they jump to conclusions. You can have very frightening and very threatening situations. Fortunately we live in a country, unlike the country we are sitting in, where most Canadians do not encounter violence or threatening situations up-close and personal."

Elliott acknowledged that the RCMP's public face has been damaged by a series of scandals in recent years, including the death of Dziekanski.

But he asked that the public not condemn RCMP officers and realize that some of the situations they read about are not always so "black and white."

Elliot was in Kandahar to view the police mentoring operation that is taking place at the provincial reconstruction base.

He said 50 police officers will be assigned to the training program by September, up from the 34 that are assigned today.

The training of Afghan police officers has been time-consuming and difficult, with foreign experts having to overcome language and literacy issues with their prospective trainees.

Elliott said "there is a lot of work to do," but added that "there are encouraging signs" with the training results.

Canada has committed to spending $21 million over the next two years to pay the salaries for 3,000 Afghan police officers.