The Insular World Of The Police Mentality

I have written several posts in this blog about institutions and their many shortcomings, shortcomings that seem directly proportional to their age. The longer one exists, the more prone an organization seems to becoming increasingly insular, self-referential, and self-reverential.

One of the institutions most frequently targeted here is law enforcement. Whether examining local or national forces, it is clear that the temptation to overstep, misuse and abuse authority is too much for some to resist. Failure to seriously acknowledge that fact only leads to a greater likelihood it will recur, often more frequently or on an even larger scale.

Perhaps the most notorious instance of police abusing their authority and subsequent organizational inertia in responding to it was the G20 Summit of 2010 in Toronto. The details of that infamous weekend are well-known, and I have posted about it numerous times; in the aftermath of that weekend of mayhem, a G20 Criminal Investigative Project was formed to pursue and bring to justice the non-police criminals who contributed to the violence of that weekend.

As The Star's Rosie DiManno reports in today's edition, despite the legacy of illegalities perpetrated by the police and their commanders, that Project is today to be given a team award originating with Professional Standards:

[It is] being presented to some of the 82 members of the Toronto Police Service who are being honoured on Thursday along with a handful of officers from other law agencies

As Ms DiManno tartly observes:

There is little to feel proud about in the aftermath of that weekend of wreckage and trampled rights. Goodness, a slew of lawsuits against police for alleged abuse of force are still winding their way through the courts. And much of this city lost faith in its upholders of law and order, unprepared as they were to avert the chaos that erupted, then overly zealous in response to top-down orders that they “take back the streets.”

But that reality doesn't seem to exist in Policeland, it would seem.

The authorities, however, should be aware that it has not been forgotten in the larger world of public opinion.

From The Police Beat: More Police Brutality

Not given to monomania, I really hope that at some point in the (perhaps distant) future, I will be able to completely move on from commenting about police misdeeds. It's just that I have a real thing against the abuse of authority, and every time they come to my attention, I feel compelled to offer my observations.

I have written previously about Ontario Court Justice Lesley Baldwin and her brave comments that 'contempt of cop is not a crime'. Unlike the SIU, which has proven both toothless and feckless in fulfilling their mandate of investigating the police, Justice Baldwin has clearly seen through the barrier of the 'blue wall' that police tend to erect whenever one of their own is under fire.

She is once more in the news in a Toronto Star article entitled ‘Courageous’ judge takes on Halton cops. In part, the piece summarizes her previous ruling that prompted her 'contempt of cop' comments as she dismissed charges against Kyle Davidson of assaulting a peace officer, resisting arrest and being intoxicated in public in connection with a June 2009 arrest.

According to Davidson in an interview I saw last night on TV, a police car sped by him, narrowly missing him, at which point he mouthed an obscentiy. The police car came to a sudden stop and Davidson was told he was under arrest. Incredulous at the turn of events, he asked "For what?" after which Const. Erich Paroshy broke his arm.

Justice Baldwin's observations were as follows:

"I do find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Officer Paroshy used excessive force and broke Kyle Davidson’s arm in this case,” said Justice Baldwin in her 16-page ruling, making clear that “contempt of cop” is not a justification for an arrest.

Davidson said he has read the ruling “like 75 times” and added that he “feels absolutely vindicated. I really doubted the system.”

Baldwin went further in her ruling, calling police conduct in the case “harsh and callous.” She added: “I sensed no empathy on the part of either officer for the injuries Kyle Davidson sustained in this matter.”

In a related Star story, Justice Baldwin recommended to Crown prosecutors that they “carefully screen cases where an accused is brought before the Court on charges that arise from circumstances of suspected ‘contempt of cop’ before they proceed to prosecute the matter.” In the Dyrda case, she recommended screening “where no underlying charges accompany ‘assault resist arrest’ and ‘obstruct police’ charges.”

The above reference to the Dryda case, interestingly enough, also involved Erich Paroshy, the officer who broke Davidson's arm. The details of that case are as follows:

Baldwin acquitted brothers Bogumil and Stanislaw Dyrda of all charges, including assaulting a peace officer, stemming from an incident in January 2009.

According to court documents, Stanislaw was returning from dropping his daughter off at university in Ottawa when his car swerved off the road into a pile of rocks, deploying the airbag.

Constables Paroshy and Blair Egerter responded to a dispatch around 10 p.m. and alleged that when they tried to get information from Stanislaw he responded by saying “no.”

As they escorted him back to the cruiser, the officers testified they suspected Stanislaw was intoxicated and that he pushed himself away from Paroshy.

He was then placed under arrest, and as an altercation ensued, Paroshy alleged that Bogumil, having arrived on the scene after receiving a call from his brother, interfered by pulling off his bulletproof vest.

Stanislaw was punched by the officers, taken to the ground by Egerter and pepper-sprayed by Paroshy.

The brothers said that Stanislaw was not intoxicated, but exhausted from driving 17 hours and disoriented from the car crash; also, that Bogumil was trying to diffuse the situation by offering to translate for his brother, who speaks little English. He denied trying to take off Paroshy’s vest.

“Their duty as officers was to determine if this man needed some help. Help was not what Stanislaw Dyrda got that evening. He got beaten,” said Justice Baldwin in a 32-page ruling. “At the end of this long trial, it was clear that this case involved the excessive use of police force.”

Predictably, the Halton Police Association is offended and defensive about the judge's comments.

Police association president Duncan Foot slammed the judge for her decision in a letter to a local paper.

Trying to conceal rather than root out the problems is not a strategy that will restore public confidence, nor will it do anything to curb what seems to be the rising number of reported incidents of police brutality and excessive use of force.

Added to that, to paraphrase a subject popular with the Harper government, we can only wonder about the number of unreported crimes committed by police in their overzealous pursuit of their public safety duties.

Another Police Embarrassment

I really take no pleasure in reading about police who are charged with crimes. Sadly, that kind of misbehavior, which seems to be alarmingly on the increase, reflects badly on all officers, which is patently unfair. Nonetheless, it is crucial that we hold to a very high standard these guardians of our security, as any abuse of their considerable authority has quite serious implications for society. Transparency, not secrecy, is the key. If our police services want to restore and maintain our trust, they surely will have to behave better than the Peel Police did recently.

In a story that has come to light only through the doggedness of the Toronto Star, we learn that Peel tried to conceal from the public some serious allegations facing one of its members, Darrell Beck, 32, of Lisle, Ont., who was arrested at 8:48 p.m. Friday on suspicion of impaired driving and possession for the purpose of trafficking. They did everything in their power to keep the fact that he is an officer from the public. Check out the full story to learn the disturbing details.

The Toronto Police Board and Bill Blair

It is somewhat heartening that the Toronto police board, which has traditionally enjoyed harmonious relations with the Toronto Police, is showing a bit of spine.

As reported in today's Star, the board is refusing to accept Chief Bill Blair's recommendation for the promotion of nine officers who brought discredit to themselves and the force, not to mention undermined public respect for the police, by removing their name tags during the G20 demonstrations last year.

Apparently the police association, which is filing a grievance on behalf of the offending officers, argues that they were already docked a day's pay for their misbehavior and that further punishment is unwarranted. Funny, I always thought a promotion was a reward for good work, not an automatic bump in pay grade.

One can only hope that the board is sending an unequivocal message to Bill Blair about who is really in charge of the police.

‘Contempt of cop’ no crime

So read the headline in today's Hamilton Spectator in a story by Ken Peters.

In yet another blow to the patina of respect that used to envelop the police,

Ontario Court Justice Lesley Baldwin offered a scathing rebuke of Burlington OPP Constable Ryan Cox and Halton Regional Police Officer Erich Paroshy in connection with a June 20, 2009, arrest that left Burlington resident Kyle Davidson with a fractured left arm.

Apparently the young Mr. Davidson, who mouthed an obscenity when asked to approach the officers in question, was arrested on suspicion of drunkenness and resisting arrest (the latter, I suppose, a natural reaction when one feels he/she is being arrested for no cause). Unfortunately, during the arrest, in addition to the fractured arm, Davidson sustained injuries to his face and nose which he claims were the result of the officers grabbing his head and smashing it into a curb. The arresting officers claim that he 'slipped off the curb' (is this police code for brutality?) when they attempted to arrest him.

As usual, the SIU investigated and found no basis for further action. Thankfully, Justice Baldwin was not so timid, finding, “It is not an offence to be rude to an officer” and concluding that "the police conduct in this case was harsh and callous.” She also recommended "at a minimum, that both officers be retrained in the appropriate use of police force”.

Given the ever increasing incidence of police misconduct and abuse of authority, many would suggest that much harsher measures are called for.

Please sign this petition urging Prime Minister Harper to stop threatening Michaela Keyserlingk and to stop exporting asbestos.

More Police Misconduct - So What Else Is New?

In what is getting to be a far too routine occurrence, more police misconduct has come to light, this time in the Niagara region. A story in The Hamilton Spectator entitled Judge blasts Niagara police officers, chief of police details how Ontario Supreme Court Justice Peter Hambly dismissed all charges in a $16 million pot grow-op bust due to dishonesty on the part of the arresting officers:

Hambly said officers, Detective Sergeant James Leigh, who was in charge of the morality unit, Detective James Malloy and Detective Chris Lemaich knowingly hid identification of the source of information leading to the location of the grow-op.

The source, a Hamilton police officer with relatives living in the general area of the bust, did not stipulate anonymity, but the arresting officers claimed they had received an anonymous tip, going so far as to falsify notes and repeatedly swear false affidavits to obtain a search warrant.

Because the officers had acted without integrity and would have continued to perjure themselves at trial, the judge dismissed all charges. He also had harsh words for Niagara's Police Chief, Wendy Southall, saying that she knows what has taken place and has taken no action. In other words, she seems to be encouraging a culture of corrupt policing.

Probably the most damning assessment of the entire sad episode comes from Benjamin Berger, a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School who addressed its wider ramifications:

“There have been a number of inquiries into police conduct in Canada. When these add up and develop, when you get these messages sent, the great concern is you have a public that is losing confidence, or may lose confidence in the institution’s government,” said Berger.

He said law enforcement is representing some of the basic principals of our democracy; the legitimacy of force, transparency in government and these are all crucial to people’s sense of the rule of law.

“Police are really important. They are given enormous powers by society with a sense of trust that those powers will be exercised in accordance with the rule of law,” said Berger. “Where there is a loss of that confidence, it shakes the system.”

Indeed. it seems that with each passing week, our guardians of public security have more and more to answer for.

Please sign this petition urging Prime Minister Harper to stop threatening Michaela Keyserlingk and to stop exporting asbestos.

The Star: Police Strip Searches On The Rise

As reported in today's Toronto Star, "Toronto police strip searched roughly 60 per cent of the people they arrested in 2010, compared to 32 per cent 10 years ago, according to police statistics."

Given recent high profile incidents of this practice, some have suggested that the authorities are using the searches as a tool of intimidation and humiliation, yet another indication of a creeping authoritarianism insinuating itself into our social fabric.

But there may be another explanation. Given the high profile evidence of faltering police facial-recognition skills, and since we all come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and endowments, perhaps they are merely employing an adaptive strategy to more definitively and completely identify us for future reference, whether that be in a court of law or elsewhere.