Now THIS is my kind of cop. The more I read about him, the more I like him. Everybody and their dog knows that the so-called “criminal justice system” in this country is nothing more than a criminal-coddling crock of… well, you know. But Calgary Const. Shaun Horne went and did what damn near every cop in the land — not to mention more than a few just plain decent, law-abiding folks — have been itching to do for years: After idiot JP Kristine Robidoux gave career criminal Albert Walter Brazill — a lifelong scumbag with over 65 criminal convictions — a free pass out of the county bucket, Const. Horne stood up in the courtroom and ripped Her Bullshitness a new one.

You can read more about it here, here, here and here. As Rick Bell put it best in today’s Calgary Sun:

What happens when a city cop tells the truth about our justice system? In PC Calgary, he gets yanked off the street and hit with a suspension

Guilty of speaking what everybody knows to be true.

Our so-called justice system IS a mockery and a joke.

Ask any cop.

Ask any criminal.

Ask any victim of crime.

But Const. Shaun Horne, with 25 years of fighting bad guys under his belt, just doesn’t think the fact. He actually says the words.

And the butt-covering city police bigwigs, anxious not to offend the sensibilities of judges, mete out the discipline at the public school board meeting room.

With the clock ticking off toward his last day, a police hearing suspends the constable for a week without pay.

There is not much more they can do. Horne is out the door early in the new year. But the message is clear.

If the officer had years to go before the finish line they’d be getting the nails and the wood out.

“It would be suicidal,” says Rambo Al Koenig, the mince-no-words police association prez.

“Out of fear of reprisals anyone speaking out would have to swallow their pride and their principles.”

But Horne could speak up and did speak up when one Albert Walter Brazill appeared in court for not paying his bar tab.

Brazill is a piece of work, a career criminal with 65 convictions — everything from extortion, kidnapping, forcible confinement to thefts, multiple break and enters, vehicle theft, armed robbery, frauds, forgeries, assaults, many impaired driving and drug beefs and more than once failing to show up to court.

Brazill has nothing to say but tells justice of the peace Kristine Robidoux he needs an alcohol program.

He says he is in Calgary looking for work as a painter but nobody will get him painter pants. Then he gives some sob story about not being able to score work of any kind because he was hit over the head in Regina and his ID was stolen.

“I can’t win,” he says. But he does win, 65 convictions and all.

Robidoux says: “I am just not satisfied the ends of justice are met by having this person detained for the better part of a week.”

Brazill asks if that’s it, realizes it is, thanks Robidoux and smirks at Horne the cop, who’s seen the revolving door so many times before.

Horne calls him a piece of … you know.

Horne then asks the JP if she is “going to release everybody” and calls Brazill’s walk “a joke” and “a mockery.”

By the way, the released Brazill doesn’t show up for his next court date.

Yesterday, it is Horne on the hot seat, three counts of discreditable conduct. Insp. Paul Manuel, representing the police brass, sounds off like a paragon of virtue.

Horne brought “discredit on the reputation of the service” and there must be a strong message to the ranks that “this type of behaviour will not be condoned and must be dealt with severely.”

Manuel waxes on about Horne’s “barrage” of “insulting and condescending language” stating “the seriousness of the matter cannot be overstated.”

“The public interest must be considered,” says the inspector. Right. Since when was the public interest ever considered.

Besides, the constable won’t say sorry and Robidoux the JP is reportedly shocked and gets angry calls at home from the public.

Manuel asks for Horne to get two weeks without pay. He is given one. It is the sad end for a good cop.

Rambo Al says the badges on the street will now know the drill. “No matter what injustice you see, keep your mouth shut,” says Koenig.

Horne has no regrets. He’d do the same but maybe be a little choosier about the words.

He is still frustrated but gets some small comfort from the support of fellow- officers who every day deal with the cushiness of the courts and the public relations blather from their politically correct superiors.

Horne is not surprised by the outcome.

“In my mind, this was over before it started,” he says.

He retires knowing the system is “nowhere near fair” and it isn’t changing any time soon. But the police officer does not shy away from the consequences. Horne says he was offered a reprimand and wouldn’t take it. He will not bend the knee.

When it is over, Manuel shamelessly offers a handshake and the obligatory happy retirement wish to Horne.

The constable just turns away.

If you’re anything like me, you probably have quite a few fond memories of playing hockey with friends, or even just skating around in the waning light, on a frozen pond somewhere.  I think most of us — or at least those of us that grew up in the country or small towns — have such recollections.  For us it was a pond in the middle of a farmer’s field on the northeast edge of town.

Most folks my age will tell you that the winters were quite a bit colder back then, and they were.  I can remember a time in my life when storms like the one that dumped about 3 feet of white stuff on London recently were expected at least once or twice a year.  So, to make a long story short, skating on frozen ponds was just something that we did, every chance we got.

But along with all that fun came constant warnings from the grownups, delivered with the kind of tone that made it damn clear that any screwing around would be dealt with immediately, and harshly:

• Stay away from ponds if there had been any kind of a thaw, no matter how brief, within the last week.
• “Thick and blue is tried and true; thin or crispy, way too risky.”
• Don’t trust ice that has a milky colour to it.
• Don’t go out on any ice until somebody — or, more likely, somebody’s dad — has augered it to make sure exactly how thick it is.
• Don’t trust ice that’s covered in a layer of snow.  Snow doesn’t just obscure ice, it also has an insulating effect and inhibits good ice formation.
• Never trust the ice on a river or a stream; it can be a foot thick in one spot but paper thin just a few yards away.
• Always have a lifeline nearby, just in case the worst happens.
• Finally, no matter how well you think you know the ice: never, never, EVER go out on the ice alone.

I was reminded of all this today as I heard the news of the tragic death of 11-year Brunthan Nadarajah in Scarborough, who died trying to rescue a friend who had fallen through the ice on a drainage pond.  The other kid, a 15-year old, is currently in critical condition at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

Winter in Canada is a wonderful time, and peppered with innumerable traditions but, for God’s sake, make sure your children know what to do, and what not to do, to keep themselves safe.  No parent ever wants to read something like this about their own children:

The older boy plunged through the thin ice that covered the pond. The younger boy tried to pull his friend from the water, only to break through himself.

“He was the only person who went and tried to rescue him,” Nadarah said of his son, adding that the sixth-grade student was trying to save a high-school student.

“I miss him so much. We miss him so much.”

Rescue attempts

One man rushed to the scene with a long electrical cord and tried to throw it to the boys. His rescue attempt was almost successful.

“I threw it out again (and) he finally got a hold of it,” Phil Hall said.

“I tried pulling him up and he couldn’t hold on to it. I guess his hands were freezing, he couldn’t hold on to it.”

Hall then crawled out on the thin ice, inching his way towards the boys in an effort to get closer.

“As I got close towards them, the ice gave way,” he said.

Hall, who cannot swim, and a police officer still had the extension cord and were able to get back to safety.

Four police officers in total attempted to rescue the boys, but were not successful.

Well, I’ll be danged, Rick Mercer went and did it again… If this keeps up, with him slamming the Librano$ as hard as he was the Tories for so long, I’m gonna start thinking that ol’ Ricky’s not so much biased as he is an equal-opportunity exasperation.

Too bad for the piggies, though; they’re gonna get real tired if that happens… 😆