Parliamentary penny pinching

"Find a penny, pick it up, all the day you’ll have good luck" — unless, of course, that penny happens to be at the bottom of the Centennial Flame fountain on Parliament Hill, in which case you may end up with the Mounties in hot pursuit. According to Canwest, an internal RCMP document on Hill security orders officers on the Peace Tower beat to take a zero tolerance approach to parliamentary penny pinching, noting that "the public perception of police inaction or tolerance of this behaviour is unacceptable." Although the document acknowledges that laying charges would likely be "inappropriate" except under extreme circumstances, it nevertheless instructs officers to intervene "to ensure the activity is stopped". According to the RCMP, that means patting down the pilferers, and putting any purloined pennies back in the pool.

Canwest News Service