Ottawa Police to Serve & protect ??

[FineWineDiva 7343]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/07/28/ottawa-roxanne-carr-video-cellblock.html

[Megan'sTouch 23875]

The Ottawa Police are scary! Just read POWER's report on their treatment of sex workers:

 

http://powerottawa.ca/POWER_Report_Challenges.pdf

http://powerottawa.ca/POWER%20press%20release%20final%20-%20e.pdf

[Guest f***2f***]

The Ottawa Police are scary! Just read POWER's report on their treatment of sex workers:

 

http://powerottawa.ca/POWER_Report_Challenges.pdf

http://powerottawa.ca/POWER%20press%20release%20final%20-%20e.pdf

 

Thanks for printing that link. It is an amazing report and I spent a few hours reading and educating myself. Very good.

[da2root 871]

 

This is one of my favourite video's of the OPS officers being the oh so fine officer's that our tax dollars pay for...

 

I can't count on two hands how many times I've gotten into verbal altercations with Officer's in this city about their professionalism (or lack there of)

[Lowdark 5613]

I would hope that the majority of the police are dependable, honest people who are out to make a difference. But this latest incident (among a string of them) and what I have read on POWER's site, one would have to suspect that the untrustworthy elements of the police are larger than we might hope. This bears further watching.

[Alexandra-Sky 12606]

If you do some research of the history of police in general you will find that police were implemented to protect the rich (and their capital) from the poor. The RCMP was established the squash the native resistance movements in Canada. The Ottawa police have the worst practices when it comes to dealing with matters of sexual Assault. The list goes on and on and as one learns more about this, one realizes that this is more than a 'bad apple' problem.

[Lowdark 5613]

Any links or references on that topic off the top of your head? I'd be interested in reading them.

 

If you do some research of the history of police in general you will find that police were implemented to protect the rich (and their capital) from the poor. The RCMP was established the squash the native resistance movements in Canada. The Ottawa police have the worst practices when it comes to dealing with matters of sexual Assault. The list goes on and on and as one learns more about this, one realizes that this is more than a 'bad apple' problem.

[Victoria Banks 21899]

They do that all the time.

[da2root 871]

Any links or references on that topic off the top of your head? I'd be interested in reading them.

 

As to the first quote - that's exactly what police were set up for, to protect the state - not the people. Once I'm done moving I'll dig through my school stuff (I used to be a criminology student) and post some stuff.

 

As for the RCMP; first I've read that but it wouldn't entirely surprise me.

[spud271 47779]

The Ottawa police are so inept they couldn't catch a cold!

[Capital Hunter 18263]

The Ottawa police are so inept they couldn't catch a cold!

 

Good too see you back spud.

 

I heard it somewhere that "they always get their man" lol :-).

[Nathalie L 112512]

Any links or references on that topic off the top of your head? I'd be interested in reading them.

 

"The Canadian War on Queers" is a really good book about the history of the RCMP in Canada. Specifically it address police brutality against 'queer' people (including people of colour and anyone considered to be a 'communist') during the 1950's McCarthy period in Canada. It's an amazingly written historical analysis.

 

There's a lot on this in the U.S., but nothing which really addresses the Canadian context. It's by Patrizia Gentile and Gary Kinsman.

[Megan'sTouch 23875]

Patrizia Gentile

She was one of my profs. Teehee. If I recall correctly, our views on sex work clashed. /threadjack

[Nathalie L 112512]

She was one of my profs. Teehee. If I recall correctly' date=' our views on sex work clashed. /threadjack[/quote']

 

She was one of my teacher's too. It was a course on discourses of 'National Security' where one of our main sources was this book. The topic of sex work didn't come up in class, but I have to admit that I'm surprised your views clashed. She doesn't strike me as an abolitionist/prohibitionist, but you can never really tell...

[Lowdark 5613]

Thanks. I'll be interested in reading that. And thank you Nathalie, I might look the book up. I read an article when there was a lot of media attention surrounding the stirking down of the current prostitution laws that the chief of police here in Ottawa "bristled" at the idea SPs would hesitate to call the police if needed. He claimed to protect everyone equally. But how long did it take the police in Vancouver to begin caring about the disappearances of Robert Picton's victims in B.C.? Picton seemed to have free reign to hunt as he pleased while the police simply shrugged their shoulders because of who his victims were. I remember following the events in B.C. when it was just a sort of a media novelty and nobody had even heard of Robert Picton. There was a quote from a family member of one of the missing who said that if had been fifty or so white school girls who had disappeared they would've had the army out. And I have to ask myself, is it just the Vancouver police who would have been indifferent?

 

As to the first quote - that's exactly what police were set up for, to protect the state - not the people. Once I'm done moving I'll dig through my school stuff (I used to be a criminology student) and post some stuff.

 

As for the RCMP; first I've read that but it wouldn't entirely surprise me.

[Guest f***2f***]

I'm a law abiding citizen and I respect the law, however, I don't have a lot of faith in our police. I'd like to think they are there for us but my experience has been to the contrary. I have even less faith in our judicial system which is slow, arbitrary and not really concerned about justice but rather process.

 

It gets extremely expensive when you get into the system to even attempt to get justice and for the most part it just doesn't happen. Raising teens who sometimes let their high spirits get the better of them I know of which I speak.

In my experience the law, as it is enforced, is an ass.

[bcguy42 38594]

I want to believe in the fundamental goodness of the majority of the police what with having a sister and a brother-in-law who worked in law enforcement and a daughter who is seriously considering it.

 

But Lowdark's quote regarding Picton's victims, "...a quote from a family member of one of the missing who said that if had been fifty or so white school girls who had disappeared they would've had the army out" reminded me of journalistic pieces I've seen about the girls of colour who's disappearances went unremarked while missing cute little white girls were all over the national news.

 

The other thing that mitigates against my desired belief is the frightening ease with which you can find police behaving badly.

[spud271 47779]

Good too see you back spud.

 

I heard it somewhere that "they always get their man" lol :-).

 

Thanks SA, I'm only here for a few days then gone again for a while.

[Alexandra-Sky 12606]

Weird, she is a friend of mine. I wouldn't say she is abolotionist/prohibitionist. She lets me talk about my work, but you can tell it's not her strong topic but she is always interested in learning, i think!

 

She was one of my profs. Teehee. If I recall correctly' date=' our views on sex work clashed. /threadjack[/quote']