HARD TO RECONCILE THESE TWO STORIES

There is an old saying to the effect that a person would rather be convicted of bank robbery than charged with child molesting. Well it turns out that the Guelph police appear to have screwed up really badly. Today's Waterloo Region Record carries the following story titled "Guelph police issue apology over wrongful arrest". In this particular case Guelph police apparently issued a media release identifying a 32 year old Guelph man as having been charged for possession of child pornography as well as for voyeurism. There were two problems with this media release however. Firstly the Guelph man was never charged after being arrested and secondly he was not in possession of child pornography nor was he engaged in voyeurism. The Guelph police to their credit have since publicly confirmed that and apologized for the damage and embarrassment that they caused. A family lawyer has also advised that the police have paid an undisclosed sum of money to settle the dispute. There were also allegations of police using excessive force and causing bruising and bleeding to the Guelph man.

Here's the problem for me. The police initial statement of defense against the family's lawsuit claimed officers were acting in the course of their duties as police officers and even more alarming the Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU) cleared the Guelph officers of any wrongdoing in the course of their arrest.

Sorry but it appears to me as if the SIU's credibility has taken another hit here. You really can't have it both ways. Is arresting the wrong person and causing bruising and bleeding "...acting in the course of their duties as police officers.". I sincerely hope not.