Opinion: We want our police to be models of uninterrupted forbearance. Even if many of us couldn’t lay claim to the same.

You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.

It was a weekday afternoon.

Unexceptional in many ways except that Margaret was spending it in the emergency department at Vancouver General Hospital. No one likes having to go to ER but the smallest consolation is that there’s usually hospital dramas unfolding before your eyes.

As Margaret sat waiting, a man escorted by four Vancouver police officers arrived. His hands were handcuffed behind his back. A chair was provided for the man. He sat quietly while the officers attended to whatever it is officers attend to when bringing someone to the hospital.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

The usual riot of the emergency room activity swirled around this group of five but they were the quiet eye in the storm. The handcuffed man seemed obliging and composed. The officers were calm and efficient.

Soon after, the man was escorted to the area beyond the waiting room, an officer guiding him by the elbow. That officer explained to the man that he’d be going in with the doctors now, that he was in good hands and that these people would help him. The handcuffed man nodded, thanked him and quietly vanished behind the doors.

Margaret would come to know that the man she saw being admitted at was the same man who, earlier that day, had gone on a rampage in downtown Vancouver. He’d coursed through the city breaking windows, threatening people, lunging with a knife at a pedestrian, and stabbing another man.

Margaret makes no comment on the man and his crimes. What caught her attention was the deportment of the attending officers. The handcuffed man wasn’t just an alleged suspect, it was entirely clear what he had done just hours before. But, where the police — inured as they are to troublemakers — might have been cold and cavalier, they were professional and compassionate.

Margaret was impressed enough by their conduct to send a note commending the officers to Vancouver Chief Const. Adam Palmer. She wanted to impress upon him that, “ … your officer demonstrated a degree of humanity unexpected in the circumstances and that I am grateful that he is working with the police department”.

There’s much to love about this story. Even in instances of bizarre criminal conduct, magnanimity and professionalism are in evidence within our constabulary. That a citizen takes the time to acknowledge exemplary conduct is wonderful.

That a dangerous person was released from the Fraser Correctional Centre just days before this rampage is another topic........

© Vancouver Sun