In what seems to be turning into a regular occurrence, high-ranking RCMP members are getting caught making sex tapes of themselves in their offices.

To be clear, I have no issue whatsoever of people doing whatever they want in the privacy of their own homes.  If they want to make sex tapes of themselves that’s 100% their business.

Where it becomes my business and yours, too, is when the people making these sex videos are high-ranking RCMP members using their boss’s office in RCMP headquarters and use RCMP video equipment.

The RCMP doesn’t need more black eyes, yet people like Staff Sgt. Ronald Matthews just keep screwing up and it keeps making the news.

“The force, as an organization, cannot tolerate the downloading, storing and viewing of pornography on our computer systems and sending videos of oneself performing sexual acts, albeit to a willing recipient, is such flagrant misbehaviour that it must be considered with the utmost of seriousness,” the RCMP disciplinary board said.

We all have problems in life and the RCMP’s culture doesn’t make it easy on marriages.

That’s no excuse.

We expect and deserve better than that from the men who have sworn to be better than this.

We place our trust in the RCMP for better or worse.

We trust them with our safety.  We trust them to act in our best interests and to put our best interests ahead of their own.

I supposed that’s why all of the disgraceful conduct that’s come to light about the RCMP over the past few years is so disheartening.

Broken trust.

Once trust is broken, it takes an awful lot to rebuild, and as my series on 25 Reasons To Dump the RCMP shows all too clearly, that trust hasn’t just been broken, it’s been stomped on and dumped in the trash.

“The member sincerely apologized and regretted his actions. He indicated the embarrassment he has caused the force and deeply feels the shame he has brought upon himself,” according to the internal affairs files.

It takes more than an apology, no matter how sincere, from men like Staff Sgt. Ronald Matthews to rebuild that trust.

“Members are entrusted and this misbehaviour violates that trust placed in them. The board has accepted that this was a huge error in judgment, however, a strong message must be conveyed that this behaviour is unacceptable,” the RCMP disciplinary board concluded.

At least the RCMP’s disciplinary board and I can agree on one thing:

“…this behaviour is unacceptable.”