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.
Continue readingTag: police criticism
Politics and its Discontents: 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 the…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: 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 …
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: 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 recommendat…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: ‘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…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: 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 Supr…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: 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, som…
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