Thus begins the third part of the Star's investigation into police officers who abuse their authority and subsequently perjure themselves in court, usually with no subsequent punishment from their departments.
You can read all of the sordid details here.
The unfortunate pitfall of all of this, of course, is the danger of slipping into the fallacy of gross over-generalizations. The fact is, of course, that the majority of police do not abuse their powers (except in special circumstances such as the Toronto G20 Summit of 2010); it just seems that way thanks to a sometimes-vigilant press and some intrepid citizen journalists.
If you have the stomach for it, read about a Windsor police detective, David Van Buskirk, who has just been found guilty of viciously assaulting a visually-impaired doctor, Tyceer Abouhassan, and lying to cover up the assault. The Windsor Police Association, of course, is falling all over itself explaining away his aberrant and abhorrent behaviour and calling for understanding of the stresses he was under at the time of the beating.
No word yet about the stress Dr. Abouhassan experienced as a result of the assault.
While its response to the investigation could be cynically dismissed as a political one, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police now says that
... the justice system should report police officers who are found by judges to have lied, misled the court or fabricated evidence.
“If a judge perceives that an officer has not fulfilled his oath of honesty, a judge should report it to a police service. The national association would naturally support mechanisms that would ensure this happens,” said association spokesperson Timothy Smith.
Despite the dismissal of the series by Mark Pugash, who has basically said that The Star doesn't know what it is talking about and can't be taken seriously, the chair of the civilian oversight Toronto Police Services Board, Alok Mukherjee, told the Star he is troubled by this “serious issue” and wants something done to stop the lies from eroding the public’s trust in his police force.
At a time when the majority of mainstream media seem to be constrained by the agenda of their corporate masters, it is reassuring that The Toronto Star continues in unfettered fashion to pursue important work leading to a better Canada.
For a full accounting of this despicable tack, take a look at Gerald Caplan's piece in The Globe.
Judges have discarded as evidence at least $40 million worth of cocaine, meth, ecstasy and weed in recent years.
The above is just a brief excerpt from the start of another investigative series from The Star, the only Canadian newspaper, to my knowledge, that is upholding the best traditions of journalism in pursuing stories that really should matter to an informed populace, stories that have led to some very significance changes and reforms both locally and provincially over the years.
In reading the account in today's issue about police who lie in court about the circumstance leading to the arrest of criminals, I admit to feeling just the smallest amount of ambivalence, inasmuch as the lies were used to justify the arrests of some very bad people. On the other hand, I am very mindful of how easy it is for the police, in whom society have invested a great deal of authority, to abuse that authority. Countless videos by citizens, and the terrible violations of our Charter rights that took place during the 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto, are ample testaments to that abuse.
I look forward to The Star's next installment tomorrow.
