Friday, November 04, 2005

Open Letter to Toronto Cops

Attn: Toronto cops:

I generally support the workers in any labour dispute as a matter of course. As a worker myself, I feel that only good can come from raising labour standards, any labour standards anywhere, even if it's in a profession that I would never work in myself.

However, you have lost any sympathy you might have had from me by bringing firearms to your demonstration last Wednesday.

The main reason the police do not have the full support of all members of the public is that they are seen as thuggishly throwing their weight around, because of racial profiling and that guy who got beaten up by police and got his teeth knocked out, and that woman who was raped by an police officer, and those protestors who were kept in a paddy-wagon for hours and hours and had to pee their pants because there was nowhere to pee.

Taking guns to a demonstration comes across simply as another sign of thuggishly throwing your weight around. This is Canada - people simply do not take guns to demonstrations! If anyone else did, they'd be surrounded by riot police and possibly beaten and thrown into paddy-wagon for hours and left to pee their pants. Taking your guns gives the impression that you think you can get away with stuff that no one else can get away with, simply because you're cops. This makes you look like thuggish bullies, and is not the way to earn the respect and support of the public!

I know it was only a small minority who wore their firearms, but I have no way of knowing which specific cops it was, so they have tainted the entire organization in my eyes.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

When a police and military force exists under the command of a civilian authority, it will always have a resentment about their emasculation and will constantly try to break free of that control so that it can run its own affairs, which usually means busting heads at will.

The civilian authorities always have to keep a tight grip on the choke-chain that holds back the dogs of war.

The only state in which the police don't bitch and complain is a police state...