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The Oakville Beaver, W e d n e sd a y F e b ru a ry 8, 2006 - 3 te a m By Howard Mozel OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Constable Tori Lean has been assigned as the K9 handler for Baron for only now, but already knows that at the five to seven-year term as a Halton Regional Police Dog, she's going to keep him. Such is the relationship that' s developed between Lean and the two-and-a-half-year old male German shepherd that the two-legged officer has no doubts her four-legged partner ship will be around for the long-haul, "It's up to us if we want to do that, but I'd keep him," she said. "I know that already." Lean is no stranger to that level of certain ty, having always wanted to become a officer since she was a child. Her father is airforce and a brother is a Peel Regional officer and Lean also wanted a job that offered diver sity, not to mention excitement. "Each day is never the same thing twice," she said. Lean was employed as a Records Clerk with Halton Regional Police starting in November 1997. After she'd saved enough money to pay for corrective eye surgery in order to qualify as a police officer, she followed her dream and joined Hamilton Police in September 2000. She remained in Hamilton for 21 months until the opportunity arose for her to return to Halton Regional and pursue her career as an officer. A dog lover since a kid (today she also has two cats), Lean's number one priority was to become a K9 officer so she volunteered her off-duty time as much as possible and assisted the unit while she was on duty whether in training or on calls. Her goal was attained last October when she was officially hired as the sixth-ever Halton Regional Police K9 handler. "It's an amazing job," she said. "I get to bring my dog to work with me and bring him home." Baron is a two-and-a-half-year old male German shepherd who was born and bred at Lucescu Kennels in Fenwick Ontario and comes from a long line of police dogs. He began his training as a General Purpose Police Dog at 11 months old and trained in the areas of agility, tracking, obedience, open area and building searches as well as article searches. DOG-GONE WAIT: Halton's newest police dog, Baron, waits patiently in the audience of veteran officers w ith his K9 handler Constable Tori Lean to be introduced to the Halton Regional Police Services Board. Lean joined Baron's training in October. She admits that since someone else paired them up it took a good three months to final ly cement their "interesting relationship," but now there's no turning back. "I love him," said Lean, who stressed that Baron is still no pet and lives outside her home in a kennel. The partners completed a three-month training course together and achieved their certification on Dec. 2. Baron and Lean com menced their official partnership five days later and Baron apprehended his first suspect on Dec. 9: a youth involved with a stolen vehi cle who fled on foot. That was exciting, she' added, since the incident proved all their hard work together had paid off. On Jan. 26, Halton Regional Police Service Board Chair Keith Bird shook Baron's paw and officially swore him in as the latest addition to the Police Dog Services Unit - the seventh such police dog hired in ' the history of the service. (Fortunately, no Halton Regional Police dog has been lost in the line of duty.) Today he shares duties with Honour and Kruz, along with their handlers. Although shifts are 10 hours long, Lean said that being a K9 .officer is a 24/7 commit ment, from constantly training (even on days off) to feeding, cleaning Baron's kennel and taking care of his health - things she wouldn't have to worry about with a human partner. "I wanted this responsibility," she said. One key to Lean's outlook is the fact she has the opportunity to help people in ways regular police work doesn't offer. To that end, she clears up the popular misconception that police dogs only track, attack and bite bad guys when in fact their value is so much more. Case in point: Lean and Baron recently found a suicidal man before he could harm himself. She also, explained police dogs are ideal for finding lost children and wandering Alzheimer sufferers. "I wanted to part of a unit that assists peo ple," she said. With acute hearing and a sense of smell thousands of times keener than that of humans, Baron is also a valuable extension of Lean's own senses and, the truth be told, a piece of her heart as well. Genocides occur in the wake of world-wide indifference By Melannie Cummings SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER The massacre that killed 800,000 Rwandans in 1994 is being repeated in Darfur, Sudan and will likely reoc cur in the Central African nation again, according to veteran journalist Hugh McCullum. The author, editor and African correspondent laid out his criticism of inaction that is being perpetuated by the U.S. and Canada to about 60 people, who gathered at St. John's United Church Monday night. "We could sort out Darfur in hours, but we don't have the will to do it," said McCullum who noted that in last month's election debates, for eign affairs weren't given any due attention. In the four years that led up to the 100 days of terror that reigned in Rwanda, extremist Hutu forces Hugh McCullum imported eight million machetes from China, among other primitive weapons, and hid them all through the country that.at just over 26,000 kilometres is no bigger than the size of Oakville. The freelance reporter, who spent 14 years in Africa, wrote many a story about the clandestine build up and about Canadian General Romeo1 Dallaire's unsupported efforts to quell the uprising. Dallaire said he could have stopped the genocide in its tracks with 5,000 soldiers, but he was left with only 150 as member nations eventually pulled out their troops. "It was just allowed it to happen," said McCullum. Instead of taking action the U.N. debated over semantics about whether to call the killing spree geno cide. According to international law, calling it genocide would require immediate response to the situation. (The United States didn't sign the U.N. convention of 1948 that declared the holocaust a genocide until 1984.) "The mantra `never again' is a meaningless cliche, false solace," he said. The ongoing djvisiveness within the country wasn't exacerbated by economic inequality, religious intol erance, or ethnic differences, but manufactured hatred imported by Belgian colonialists. Spurious studies conducted by the Belgians claimed Tutsis were more Christian because of their small noses and lips. In 1959, three years before inde pendence from Belgium, the majori ty ethnic group, the Hutus, over threw the ruling Tutsi king. Over the next several years, thousands of Tutsis were killed, and some. 150,000 driven into exile in neighboring countries. The children of these exiles later formed a rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), and began a civil war in 1990. Rwanda' s genocide is riddled with contradiction. It is the most Christian country in Africa because it counts 94.6 per cent faithful among its 8.4 million people. But, as it turned out, all too many of the faith leaders of Rwanda were equally as corrupt and had blood on their hands following the genocide. McCullum appeared as an expert witness before the continuing International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, testifying that the church leaders were aware of the genocide and carried out some of the mas sacres. "Yet the massacre was perpetuat ed by a combination of inertia and good old fashioned evil," said McCullum. For years, a radio station run by an extremist army of Hutus constant ly drilled the message to the predom inantly illiterate majority that Tutsis were cockroaches and should be eliminated. More than 80 per cent of the farming nation is uneducated.