Fascinating news out of Kimmirut, Nunavut, yesterday.  Kimmirut is located roughly 120 kilometres south of Iqaluit and is where RCMP Constable Douglas Scott was murdered in 2007.

The tiny town has a long tradition of hating the RCMP enough to shoot at them.  I’m sure that while most people in Canada don’t hate the RCMP enough to shoot at them, most people in Canada also wouldn’t lift a finger to help an RCMP member if he or she was in trouble, either.

That’s the price the RCMP must pay for hiding serial rapists, protecting killers and generally placing the Fat Blue Line between themselves and the citizens of Canada, examples of which abound on this website.

Sir Robert Peel’s 9 Principles of Policing are the foundation on which the first police force was created.  Sir Robert Peel believed that a police force could not operate successfully for long without the support and cooperation of the public.  He was, of course, correct in that belief.

The first three of his timeless principles are:

1. The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.

2. The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.

3. Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.

Throughout Canada and especially in British Columbia the RCMP has a very tough time doing their job due to their lack of adherence to these three principles.  Repeated high-profile disgraces such as former RCMP Corporal Benjamin (Monty) Robinson, RCMP Constable Bill Bentley, RCMP Constable Gerry Rundel, RCMP Constable Kwesi Millington, RCMP Constable Geoff Mantler, and RCMP Constable Andy Yung all show with repulsive clarity that the RCMP is a police force that does not have the “respect of the public” as Sir Robert Peel calls it.

It would appear that in the tiny town of Kimmirut, Nunavut, that RCMP Corporal Wendy Cornell and RCMP Constable Allan Jagoe are actually behaving like a police force ought to, however.

Why do I say this?

For one very simple reason…

Because in that tiny town of Kimmirut in Canada’s far north, citizens actually warned the RCMP members they were in danger.

Police say RCMP officers in Kimmirut — about 120 kilometres from Iqaluit — were awoken at 2 a.m. local time Saturday by an intoxicated woman banging on the door of one officer’s residence. She told them they were in danger.

“The police officers immediately brought her back to the detachment for her own safety and well-being,” said Supt. Hilton Smee at a news conference in Iqaluit Saturday afternoon.

“While in the process of looking after her, a male suspect shot multiple rounds of gunfire at the detachment, which struck the building, the police truck, the windows, resulting in considerable damage.”

With both Mounties and the young woman holed up inside, a group of about 10 residents came to the rescue. They carried out what police described as a citizens’ arrest, subduing the alleged shooter and securing the rifle.

The citizens of Kimmirut came running to the aid of RCMP members being fired upon by someone intent on doing them harm.  How amazing is that!

In almost the entire rest of the country people would have sat back and maybe filmed the encounter on their iPhones, in Kimmirut the citizens came rushing to the RCMP members’ aid, disarmed and subdued the man with the gun and held him until other police could arrive from Iqaluit to take custody of the man.

In the wake of the pathetic sentence of house arrest for Benjamin (Monty) Robinson for killing Orion Hutchinson, can you imagine residents in BC’s lower mainland doing that?

Not likely.

Clearly RCMP Corporal Wendy Cornell and Constable Allan Jagoe are doing something right in this northern Canadian town.  They’ve obviously earned the respect and trust of the majority of its citizens, just as Sir Robert Peel said they must.

To quote RCMP Superintendent Hilton Smee again:

“It’s very clear for us that there is tremendous support within the community of Kimmirut — there just happens to be some individuals who have decided to take this very drastic action against poliice officers.”

Given the past history of the RCMP in this town, namely the killing of Constable Douglas Scott in 2007 and two other incidents where individuals shot at RCMP members, there appears to be two factions splitting Kimmirut’s citizenry: the larger faction supporting the RCMP and a smaller but more dangerous faction wanting to kill them.

Can you imagine living in a community where the police actually respect citizens?

RCMP Corporal Wendy Cornell and Constable Allan Jagoe have the majority of Kimmirut’s citizens on their side to such a degree that those citizens are willing to put their own lives on the line for them.  That speaks volumes for their credibility and professionalism, doesn’t it?  It shows they have taken Sir Robert Peel’s 9 Principles of Policing to heart, whether knowingly or not.

These two should teach seminars on Sir Robert Peel’s 9 Principles of Policing and how they’ve used Peel’s Principles successfully in this small northern community.  God knows that’s a lesson the RCMP desperately needs to learn in the rest of the nation!

Maybe RCMP Commissioner Robert Paulson will have Corporal Wendy Cornell and Constable Allan Jagoe travel the country giving lessons to the rest of the force on how to earn and, more importantly, keep the respect of Canada’s citizens.