I'm not protecting Dez in any way, he did what he did and now he has to deal with it...however, people in this province, in this country have committed far worse crimes- some multiple times, some against children, women etc and have prior criminal records and received similar or lesser sentences than Dez did.
Dez doesn't have a CR, has no criminal history, he pled guilty rather than going to trial, he acknowledged that he screwed up. There were some legitimate mitigating circumstances (stress post-Mayerthorpe- Dez was friends with and used to work with at least two of the victims), job-related stress in Lac LaBiche and some other things. Not an excuse, just mitigating circumstances that would have been taken into account for anyone else that might have committed an assault such as this.
As far as the comments about being 'held to a higher standard', there might be an expectation that this be the case, however, I can assure you that legally, all people are to be treated equally in the justice system. I'm certainly not naive enough to believe that this is always the case, but that is how it is supposed to work. Police officers shouldn't be treated any differently that any other citizen that commits the same offence. The only caveat would be when a police officer uses their position or authority for advantage or gain- be it financial, personal, psychological gain over another. The same would apply for teachers, lawyers, judges, doctors etc.
FWIW, I worked with Dez for a couple years up north. He's a good guy, a good policeman and has been a good friend in the past. You'd find a lot more people that had good things to say about him than bad, he did have a very positive impact on many people in his work life as well as his personal life. He screwed up, plain and simple. He's now pleaded guilty and has been doled out his punishment. He didn't have any say in his sentence, nor did the RCMP or any other police agency.
Most people that commit an assault similar to the one committed here- assuming they didn't have a CR- would have gotten the same or even less of a sentence. Typically, a suspended sentence or a short CSO with counselling is the norm.
I suspect that he won't be working with the RCMP for long, usually once you are suspended without pay, the writings pretty much on the wall- terminated.
Flame away...
