What an absolute farce to use vulnerable people as your punchline

It was Gandhi who famously said that the true measure of any society is how it treats its most vulnerable members. Well, here we are: posting headshots of vulnerable humans […]

It was Gandhi who famously said that the true measure of any society is how it treats its most vulnerable members. Well, here we are: posting headshots of vulnerable humans in Sarnia as a 12 Days of Christmas joke on social media. Welcome back to high school, folks.

It is one thing to use media in the aid of locating a missing person, or perhaps informing the public about a dangerous person. But it is entirely immature and callous to post unflattering images of vulnerable people to get a little laugh. And why? Because they "failed to comply with probation," which could mean many, many things! These people are still sons, daughters, moms, dads, brothers, sisters—and yet to the SPS they're just social media fodder for a little laugh.

"Don't be so serious!" "It's just a joke." "We're just having fun." With vulnerable people's lives? With their reputations in their home community? Where is the empathy? Where is compassion? Where is hope, peace, love and joy at Christmastime? What an absolute farce to use vulnerable people as your punchline for easy laughs. Maybe one of the reasons vulnerable people struggle is because they are treated precisely like this! What message is SPS sending to these humans?

SPS claims that their goal is to provide a safe and secure community by working with you in a sensitive and professional manner. There's nothing professional about this and it doesn't contribute to the safety and security of these members of our community.

My mom used to say that if you don't have kind words to say then just don't say anything. That might be a tall order for speaking, but for posting on social media maybe the SPS could abide by a similar principle. Using social media like a 9th grader is not what I expect from the SPS. Grow up.