More violence by police!

Aren't cellphone cameras a wonderful innovation? It seems that not a day goes by that we aren't treated to the sight of police everywhere abusing their position and treating the citizens they profess to serve and protect with violence. Prior to the proliferation of cameras, that blue wall protected them from our prying eyes while they assured us that they only used force when they were attacked. Now we know better.

The sight of a confused Polish man being killed by the RCMP in Vancouver is enough to make the most jaded of us sick to our stomach. These highly trained thugs, when confronted with one, unarmed man, would no back off and try to locate someone who could communicate with him in his own language even though he had hurt no one and was obviously in distress after being at the airport (with no assistance from any airport personnel) for more than 10 hours. I think that 10 hours in that situation might make anyone want to throw around the furniture. No, within a couple of seconds of arriving they had used a taser on him not once, but twice, the second while he lay writhing on the floor. Even then they found it necessary to kneel on his body and on his head and neck --- as he lay dying. Once they realized what had happened, they all backed off and not even one tried to do any artificial respiration in order to save his life.

They will say that the taser was necessary because he was violent even though people at the scene had been able to talk to him and were completely unafraid of him. One cop was even heard to ask if he could use his taser as they entered the area. Obviously mediation and conflict resolution without violence are beyond their grasp. Shame!

In Toronto, a police officer today started to serve a sentence for beating a young tourist. At the time, the police thug said he was defending himself. Fortunately a camera proved what a liar he was and saved the young man a criminal record and time in jail which is what happens when you assault a police officer. The police offender will serve his sentence on weekends and will likely be reinstated to his job.

Another Toronto police officer was in court today for attending at a strip club against orders and (allegedly) sexually molesting a dancer and threatening her with his gun. Very nice.

In the U.S. a police officer is a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife. We don't know about his first wife but the second has come forward to assert that he beat her up during their marriage. Now we know that it is never a good idea to report this sort of thing to hubby's pals on the force and I guess she was lucky to get away with just a divorce. Wife number three was not quite so fortunate. She ended up dead in a dry bathtub with lots of bruises and injuries on her body. The blue line formed and it was decided that she took a terrible fall. Wife number four is now missing and is almost certainly dead. Serve and protect!

It used to be that when rumors circulated about police violence, most people just thought that the bad guys probably deserved it. It now seems that the tide is turning and most of the callers today and yesterday to local talk radio about the Polish tourist were in favour of the RCMP officers being charged with either murder or manslaughter.

Many police are complete bullies who have been able to hide behind their badges and their friends. They assault people on the street and in custody and lie routinely in court. It is time for people who are in a position to make changes to the system to step forward and really look at what has been going on. The people who are supposed to be "served and protected" deserve nothing less.