Re:Police in Canada Are Tracking People’s ‘Negative’ Behavio...
by lreeves on Wednesday May 29, 2019 @08:30AM
(#20039275)
Wow, I couldn't disagree more. I've watched police in Toronto:
* Gleefully wear masks and remove their name tags during the G20 summit and harass me for daring to work on a Saturday - friends of mine were arrested for being in the area and kept in cages (later there was a large lawsuit involved).
* They've happily accepted carding minorities in this city for a decade, ignored the cries of a community where a serial killer (Bruce McArthur) was preying on them and in fact had him in custody but let him go.
* Persecuted the LGBTQ community for decades with bathhouse and related arrests
And on a personal note the several times I've needed their assistance they have gone out of their way to victim-shame and victim-blame me. I was assaulted and robbed and the police on the phone laughed out loud at me asking if I should go in to a station or come to me. This is just the recent-most experience, my entire 20 years of adult life in Ontario has been peppered by experiences like this. And full disclosure I'm a white straight male, I cannot imagine what it would be like to be an underrepresented group dealing with the police.
So TLDR they are 100% neutral. I'm not sure after all these years what their actual guiding mission or statement is but it sure fucking isn't protecting and serving and I would never speak to them or open my door to them without a warrant and a call to a lawyer.
* Gleefully wear masks and remove their name tags during the G20 summit and harass me for daring to work on a Saturday - friends of mine were arrested for being in the area and kept in cages (later there was a large lawsuit involved).
* They've happily accepted carding minorities in this city for a decade, ignored the cries of a community where a serial killer (Bruce McArthur) was preying on them and in fact had him in custody but let him go.
* Persecuted the LGBTQ community for decades with bathhouse and related arrests
And on a personal note the several times I've needed their assistance they have gone out of their way to victim-shame and victim-blame me. I was assaulted and robbed and the police on the phone laughed out loud at me asking if I should go in to a station or come to me. This is just the recent-most experience, my entire 20 years of adult life in Ontario has been peppered by experiences like this. And full disclosure I'm a white straight male, I cannot imagine what it would be like to be an underrepresented group dealing with the police.
So TLDR they are 100% neutral. I'm not sure after all these years what their actual guiding mission or statement is but it sure fucking isn't protecting and serving and I would never speak to them or open my door to them without a warrant and a call to a lawyer.