Quebec Police Display Violent Behaviour

Excellant, the only way we will get the culture to change is to charge those that violate the law while pretending to enforce it

"Suspicious" fire destroys hotel owned by SQ top brass

The media, of course, aren't asking the obvious questions about why the SQ brass owned a tiny hotel together in the Laurentians to begin with -- including as one of the partners the guy who's currently investigating criminal misspending by the former SQ chief. Wouldn't want to call the good reputation of a force so corrupt gangsters break out of prison to deliver incriminating tapes to the press into question, after all.

lagatta wrote:

Once again, the police don't seem to have any understanding or training in how to deal with people who seem to have serious mental health problems.

The odd thing is that police foundations programs, which are prerequisites to police academy diploma courses, include exposure to sociology and psychological material.  So it's not as if they're merely trained in criminal code enforcement, given badges and guns and unleashed in the streets.  I would say that no amount of psychological training suffices to prepare the average cop for the quantity of problems that this society produces, and even the most learned Psychiatric institutions contain histories of abuse of power by its practitioners.  The profession of nursing for instance is rife with abuse, as certain individuals become immune to the conveyor belt of suffering they have to contend with on a daily basis, corresponding to a dangerous decline in the quality of care in many respects.  When a cop abuses an individual who is crying out for help, it reveals the cracks in a system that is not designed to adequately address the scale of what it causes by its very existence.  The salary of a beat cop is a systemic allowance that is intended to effect compliance for the sake of whatever social peace the more favoured contributors of society demand, which in essence only makes the problem temporarily disappear so as not to disturb the more valued citizenry, lest they too become overly disturbed by being constantly reminded of the problems that surround them.

Yeah, they put the cop out there for that very reason, to enforce compliance and ultimately to get rid of the problem, knowing full well as these politicians certainly do that this sick society that representational politics is the façade for, can never hope to properly manage what has become unmanageable.  There's not enough capacity or resources because of the exigencies of the global market economy.

ETA:  It's not to say that there shouldn't be better expectations and demands in terms of how human beings are treated, but I can't help thinking about what all of the fine people of society who complained expected would happen when they involved the police.

For as long as I can remember, the police have been sadistic and violent and after each incident, we are treated yet again to reassurances that the latest outrage is a one-off, aberration. It isn't. Nor is our relentless denial, especially in Canada where the ass-kissing, veneration of the police is a national religion..

This story just keeps getting bigger:

[url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/school-staff-accuse-montreal-poli... school teacher and janitor say they were handcuffed, one pepper-sprayed in altercation with officer who ran red light[/url]

Quote:

Carl Cadieux, the janitor at École au Pied-de-la-Montagne, says the incident began with the officer running a red light in front of the school at the corner of Pine Avenue and Henri-Julien Avenue without turning on his flashing lights.

Cadieux says there were children waiting to cross at the intersection, and he yelled out for the officer to be more careful.

The officer then allegedly returned to confront Cadieux, who says he was handcuffed and roughly pressed up against the squad car in the process.

Teacher Nadia Lessard then intervened and told the officer to let Cadieux go.

“[Cadieux] was yelling out because it hurt, and so I said, ‘Let him go’ louder and touched the officer’s arm,” she told CBC News.

At that point, the officer turned on Lessard, who said he put his hand to her throat and pepper-sprayed her in the face.

“He pepper-sprayed me not even two inches from my face and after then I couldn’t see anything,” she said.

Lessard said she was then handcuffed and put in another squad car that had arrived on the scene.

The teacher has been charged with "obstructing swine" - I may not have captured the precise legal terminology.

People are speaking out.

The thing is this behavior doesn't come out of the blue. Officer 728 was very sick by the time they finally laid her off. There were many incidents and clear behavior that indicated she had serious problems. Her partner was afraid to work with her. 

Maybe organizations like police and doctors need some sort of reporting mechanism to their unions or associations when a colleague looks to be having serious issues. Then the union or association can step in sooner and make sure the officer is getting the necessary help. 

There was an end-of-year school party going on - that is why there were so many children outside, in the schoolyard. Also parents and teachers. And of course, nowadays, some parents filmed this on their phones.

http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/actualites-en-societe/410857/des-arresta...

I'm also sick of police going through red lights with impunity, unless they are in hot pursuit, and even then, they have to weigh consequences to innocent bystanders - here, a bunch of schoolkids crossing busy avenue des Pins! against their pursuit.

More than once, I've seen teams of police on bicycles running the red light on the bicycle lane outside my house, and they were laughing and joking. Once, I was (obediently) waiting at the corner, and did not dare shout out "hé, le feu est rouge!" The'd certainly find something not regulation about my bicycle... or perhaps simply pepper-spray me.

Officer reassigned, no punishment

Police in St-Roch, a neighourhood in the Basse-Ville (Lower Town) of Québec City, killed a cyclist, Guy Blouin. According to many eyewitnesses, they ran over him at least twice, carried off the victim's bicycle and returned with it (or another bicycle?) later, and put the very severely injured man in an ambulance without a stretcher. Mr Blouin died that night in hospital.

St-Roch used to be a very poor neighbourhood, but it is undergoing very rapid gentrification since Mail St-Roch (an almost-dead urban mall that was mostly a place where itinerants and other poor people could sit and chat in severe Québec City winters) was pulled down. There is a beautiful new library ... and the local MEC store. There are still a lot of marginal people around there, and many of them converge on the Église St-Roch steps now that the mall is no more.

Guy Blouin may have been a small-time pusher, but that (if true) does not warrant a death by police sentence. People in the neighbourhood are furious.

Short video from QC daily Le Soleil showing the demonstration against the killing of Guy Blouin: http://tinyurl.com/CyclisteQuebecFlics

Article in English from CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/vigil-for-guy-blouin-ends-with-10...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/st-roch-residents-demand-justice-... This includes a video that shows the very narrow small street where Guy Blouin was allegedly cycling the wrong way.

lagatta wrote:

Police in St-Roch, a neighourhood in the Basse-Ville (Lower Town) of Québec City, killed a cyclist, Guy Blouin. According to many eyewitnesses, they ran over him at least twice, carried off the victim's bicycle and returned with it (or another bicycle?) later, and put the very severely injured man in an ambulance without a stretcher. Mr Blouin died that night in hospital.

They also placed the victim under arrest while he was lying - dying - in the street, before putting him in the ambulance.

Still haven't heard whether they will be laying charges against him.

lagatta wrote:

Police officer threatens to attach beggar to a pole outdoors on bitterly cold day:

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/montreal/201401/02/01-4725248-je-vais-...

As you can see in the photo, the itinerant is dressed for a summer day - he is wearing a t-shirt and bermuda shorts, and has a Santa Claus hat on his shoulder. According to the report, it was -40 (actually, that would include the wind chill, but it is a very windy spot - this is on Jean-Talon, in front of the main entrance to Jean-Talon métro station - near my place).

And almost two years later, wrists are duly slapped - but at least it was a finding of wrongdoing:

[url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-police-officer-pierre-lu... Pierre-Luc Gauthier gets 2-day suspension for threat to tie man to pole[/url]

Quote:

Officer Pierre-Luc Gauthier will be suspended without pay for two days for using intimidation and showing disrespect.

Gauthier's punishment is technically two separate two-day suspensions, which will be served concurrently according to the police ethics committee's decision.

Gauthier's colleague, officer Vincent Marcotte, will be suspended for one day without pay for not stepping in to intervene.