Thursday, June 17, 2010

I'm sorry -- not really

What is surprising here isn't that the apology is phony -- that's common enough in apologies coming out of litigation -- but that the RCMP put the lack of genuine regret in writing. It's as if they were totally naïve. Perhaps they really are unsophisticated? Hard to credit but what else makes sense?

http://bit.ly/c0Mham

VANCOUVER — One day before RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass publicly apologized to Robert Dziekanski's mother for the Mounties' role in his death after being Tasered, Bass e-mailed an RCMP member assuring him the apology did not mean the force was sorry for anything specific its officers did.

"Even though the word 'apology' worries some, we are not apologizing for the actions of specific members or saying anything about specific actions," Bass wrote in a March 31 e-mail to RCMP staff relations representative Brian Roach.

"I am apologizing for the loss of her son and where the (RCMP commissioner) says we could have done better, from my perspective, that relates to the fact we had to revise our policy and training."

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