Editor:
I find it disingenuous of the media to constantly refer to the occupation of someone involved in an accident, if that person happens to be a police officer. I refer, especially lately, to the sad case of the young fellow killed in a traffic accident in Abbotsford, having been hit by a car driven by "an off-duty police officer."
In just about every article about this case, this phrase is used. Is it somehow worse, if he/she is a police officer? Does it make for a greater level of drama? We never see, for example, "driven by an off-duty shoe salesman," or any such thing. It is as if the police officer should never have been involved in the first place and I don't think for a minute that they have any particular claim to driving perfection, nor should they be expected to do so. Yet, these statements prevail and they tend, I believe, to be inflammatory and judgmental.
Wayne Boylan, Aldergrove