Another Indictment Of Police Leadership

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I am a regular critic of the police. While recognizing the at-times difficult job they have and the very real potential of becoming jaded because of the criminal element with which they must deal, I have never had any sympathy, understanding or tolerance for the abuse of power that some regularly engage in.

Similarly, I am frequently offended by those who lead institutions but refuse to take responsibility for the dysfunctions that occur under their watch. We have, for example, Stephen Harper's declarations that he knew nothing about the Nigel Wright payoff of Mile Duffy; while I do not believe the Prime Minister, even if it were true, responsibility, and blame, as they say, resides at the top.

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, about whom I have written many times, strikes me as one who enjoys the perks of power but refuses to accept responsibility when things go wrong with his troubled force. The G20 debacle is probably the most egregious, but hardly the only example of his failure as chief.

A story in this morning's Star offers the most recent indictment of Blair's leadership. The Supreme Court made a definitive ruling on police strip searches in 2001, forbidding the authorities to strip their suspects completely naked, declaring it a breach of Charter Rights. Despite this, however, Toronto Const. Sasa Sljivo declared during the trial of Lerondo Smith, charged with drug trafficking and breaching conditions ... that he has stripped “hundreds” of people completely naked as part of routine searches.

Two things are striking about this admission. First, Sljivo averred in court that he was unaware of the Supreme Court ruling, and second, he told the court that he was trained by his coach officer, a police mentor, to strip-search people fully naked.

The story goes on to say Toronto police adopted those rules (i.e., the prohibition laid out by the Supreme Court) in its procedure information sheet regarding “searches of person.”

My questions are few and simple:

If the rules have been clearly set out by the Toronto police, how is it that Const. Sljivo has carried out hundreds of improper searches, apparently endorsed by his training officer?

Does the Toronto constabulary regard the Supreme Court ruling as one more honoured in the breach than in the observance?

What kind of environment has the 'leadership' of Chief Blair fostered that this could happen not once, not twice, but hundreds of time?

How many others engage in this illegal practice?

Predictably, questions sent to police spokesman Mark Pugash about the pervasiveness of these searches and whether anyone has ever been disciplined for conducting them went unanswered.

Stripping prisoners naked is a time-honoured practice of torturers to break people down. It has no place in a democracy. Chief Blair has some serious police misconduct to answer for.

Christopher Hume on the G20

With a broad range of targets in his column today, including Dalton McGuinty, Harper, Tony Clement and Julian Fantino as additional architects of the 20120 G20 debacle in Toronto, the Star's Christopher joins in the chorus of those calling for the resignation of Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair. Of course, he is under no illusion that this will happen, as he tartly observes,

Perhaps Canadians can take solace in the fact that Harper, Clement, Blair, Fantino, McGuinty and the rest of this ghastly crew must recognize the full extent of their failure, however silently. They’re not about to admit anything, of course, that would require integrity and a degree of courage none possesses.

Amen, brother.

Are Police Too Sensitive Or Simply Arrogant?

For some time now I have been closely following abuses of power, with special interest in instances involving our politicians and our police. Because both groups wield so much power, I believe that they need to be held to a very high stand which, unfortunately, they often fail to achieve.

I suspect that because both arenas involve a level of public trust that most of us do not enjoy, the temptation for participants in those arenas to see themselves as separate and above the public they serve must be very great; there is certainly no shortage of distressing events that attest to that hubris.

Recently, a criminal lawyer, Reid Rusonik used the term 'the banality of evil' to describe the widespread 'carding' of black males in Toronto. Rather than address the issue at the heart of the article, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, in a letter to the Star, expressed how he found the use of that term offensive, castigating the newspaper for allowing it to find its way into print.

Personally, I have never forgiven Blair for the pivotal role he played in the police violence that marred the 2010 G20 summit in Toronto, a role that he has consistently refused to acknowledge or show any contrition for. It is for that reason I find his umbrage at the term 'banality of evil' a bit difficult to swallow.

In a column well-worth reading in today's Star, Heather Mallick takes Blair to task over his arrogance/sensitivity.

More G20 Police Brutality Justice Pending

One of the Toronto police officers identified in the G20 beating of Adam Nobody has now been identified in another incident occurring the same weekend.

Const. Oliver Simpson's employer, the Toronto Police Services Board, is being sued by Nikos Kapetaneas and Caitlin Morgan for the injuries they sustained at the hands (or rather, the feet) of the overzealous officer in an area at Queens Park that had been designated an official protest zone.

As far as I can determine, both Toronto Police Chief bill Blair and Premier Dalton McGuimnty still stand by their men.

You can read the full story here.