26 | July | 2012 | Daniel .. Toronto, Canada

Archive for July 26th, 2012

Toronto Police Service: Gun violence – Just a bunch of buzz words, will they amount to anything?

Toronto Police Service Chief Bill Blair held a news conference today, announcing a new ‘strategy’ on how to get control of the gun violence in the City of Toronto.

The city has 17 Divisions and they plan on redirecting patrols to different areas of the city at anytime, when trouble breaks out. Extending existing eight-hour shifts to 12 hours, he plans on increasing patrols to community events like the Caribbean Festival, where he will assign almost 500 officers. All officers will be asked to work longer shifts, (compulsory overtime) which puts them at risk, and has the Toronto Police Association given the Chief their blessing?

This sounds like double talk and buzz words, to let the public think they are doing something to protect the citizens. Buzz words such as, initiatives, resources, partners, innovations and outreach, all have one thing in common, they don’t mean anything to the criminals who are murdering our citizens.

He wants the public to “Feel safe” and hopes that they are safe.

What will the criminals do to bypass this ‘initiative’ will they just move somewhere else, where police cannot find them.

Why was Chief Blair not asked about ‘Stop and Frisk’ a program that appears to be working in New York City. It allows the police to ask anyone they find to be suspicious, to search them for guns at anytime.

The Chief was asked if he supports putting cameras into TCHC (Toronto Community Housing Corp) where many of this gun violence is taking place, at the moment there are very few cameras in TCHC housing units. He danced around that and said it’s not up to him, but thinks it would be best to have more cameras.

There still is apprehension by the public in the trouble areas of the city to report anything they know or see, including the recent deadly shootings at Scarborough’s Danzig Street.

Another option put forward is to evict persons convicted of drug and gun violence from TCHC properties.

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Daniel … Toronto, Canada, 丹尼尔 دانيال … تورنتو، كندا،
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@dandmb50

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July 26, 2012

dandmb50

Filming police on the job, in the public outside, it’s ok, in the USA, how about Canada?

Anaheim, California - Times have changed, technology has changed, the world has changed. So filming police in public areas (outside) while they are working or arresting someone, while they are on duty, is supported by the ‘First amendment of the United States.’

This issue came to a head, during a protest march and the police shooting death of an unarmed young man in Anaheim, over the weekend.

It all started when police approached Manuel Diaz and he started to run but police are not sure why, and for some reason Diaz was shot dead.

The next night locals came out to protest, and police started firing rubber bullets into the crowd after a burning dumpster was pushed towards the officers.

The whole protest was filmed by several citizens, and it was alleged several officers offered “to buy the videos from them,” but no-one sold their cell phone videos to the police.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA)

I had always thought police would only shoot someone if their life, or someone elses life was in danger. Taser guns were initially brought about because police wanted another option when they didn’t want to use deadly force.

Since the addition of the taser guns, it seems now police are using these devices when someone does not comply instead of the original purpose when they were brought onto the scene.

I recently saw a video clip of two bulky police officers throwing a man to the ground after he was involved in a car wreck and very disabled, he did not comply, so they tased him several times. Could they not have wrestled him to the ground with their large stature, instead of using a taser gun?

In Toronto, only supervisors are allowed to carry the taser guns, let’s hope it stays that way, as the track record shows clearly, police are misusing these devices.

No matter what they say I would follow my instincts and if the police ask me to move back, I would do so. There are certainly places in the USA I would not record police on the job, but that is a decision each individual must make.