A video doesn’t lie: inappropriate use of police power
In my Toronto neighborhood coffee shop, when I see a group of police officers I smile and say hello. Today, through a video that made its way to my Facebook homepage, I became acutely aware that my experiences aren’t reflective of the rest of the city population.
Before I go any further, let me caveat this post by highlighting that I’ve never been much of a social justice warrior on social media. Today is an exception (link to video at end of post).
The video was taken this weekend at Sheridan Mall, a less than glamorous Toronto neighborhood, but it hit close to home. It depicts an officer taking down an alleged perpetrator for an unknown cause, outside of a liquor store, and using significant force to keep the man down. Enough force to make me, a distant viewer, upset. The whole incident is captured in a 15 minute video that challenged my assumptions, and my expectations of rule of law, and beliefs in the strength of our public policies and justice systems have all been clouded.
I’ll be the first to admit that there are two sides to every story. My intent with writing this post is not to incite racial tensions that are already high with recent instances of abuses of power. My hope is that this post will inspire action — specifically on the part of the police division in question to preemptively release details and video footage of their side of the story, before the situation escalates.
I didn’t see the incident, but the video and accompanying commentary is a firsthand incident report. There are witnesses, plenty. It happened in daylight hours. There are cameras in the store and outside. Although I sincerely hope that a proper judicial review happens for every incident involving the police, I’m not naïve. The burden of proof: evidence and interviews take time and money. In police departments operating in notoriously violence prone areas, incidents such as these may fall to the bottom of the priority list to investigate.
But we have a duty to at least start the review process so that it doesn’t become a “he said” vs “he said” stalemate. We owe a duty to review the facts before we conclude. And this should be public. Why? There’s a snowball effect.
There’s a clear correlation between confidence in the police and law abiding citizens. Want an example? Look at my tweet from this summer (showing a young woman petting an RCMP horse on the sidewalk). What a world of difference in terms of my experience … based on location, gender, and unequivocally, race related circumstances. The inverse happens when the circumstances are swapped. Distrust breeds more distrust, which in term begets more tense situations that can escalate in violence, leading to on-edge officers who are more easily aggravated.
What will happen if the full video footage is released? After all, this shouldn’t be a difficult request to meet. In fact, under a new pilot program, many officers are required to wear body cameras while on duty. Barring that, the incident started inside a liquor store and escalated just outside, lots of cameras around.
The footage that I saw is a 15 minute altercation, and appears to have started filming within a few moments of it starting. However, that first minute, or two, is critically important to see.
It will either show that the incident was completely unwarranted — and should lead to the application of appropriate punishment for the officer involved. Or the video will show us that the officer was in the right.
In any case, that video needs to be released. If it doesn’t, resentment and distrust of the police will continue. Originating with the individual taken into custody, who if released later will forever hold feelings of being publically “wronged”, a dangerous poison to carry. If the individual is charged, and rightly so, the consequence of not releasing the video publicly will lead to closeted resentment of the witnesses, bystanders, relatives of the perpetrator, and the local community all questioning the final decision made by the judiciary system. If the video shows that the officer was in the wrong, public sharing of the video will force the department’s hand in taking the appropriate action against the officer.
In any event, this will serve as a reminder to the force that their duty has always been, and remains, towards the public. It should also serve as a reminder of how important communication, restraint, and non-violent training is for officers.
For the officer involved, I don’t know the full story. I get it. Things escalate. However, one thing really struck me. At 1:30–1:35 of the video is a momentary expression that floated across the face of the officer. That expression said “oh shit”. It’s when he realized that there was a video camera right behind him (and yet another not far off). In that moment of high adrenaline, the facial expression was but fleeting. Yet it stayed with me. Precisely because I saw a recognition of doing something wrong, perhaps guilt, albeit ever so briefly. I may have stopped watching the video past minute 1. After all, there are many YouTube videos depicting police misdemeanor. But this officer’s expression stayed with me, and I kept watching.
I wish to give everyone involved the benefit of the doubt. But historically, the officer will get this benefit without trying, simply because he comes from the position of power in this situation. My ask is that this incident be given the light of day. If the gentleman taken into custody is released, with no record, he’ll need a sincere apology. Just a step towards re-building the trust and knowing that just walking into a store won’t get you beaten up.
We have a long way to go in building (not simply “restoring”) public trust in our officers.
It saddens me to admit that when I reached out to the individual who recorded and posted the video and asked if he had reported the incident to the OPP or tagged the relevant parties in his Facebook post, his response was:
“Yes I posted it up first time and even hash tagged toronto police but I was scared so I deleted it and I posted it again with out the hash tag”.
Cue my stomach churning.
The power of media, social or not, is to share information and to bring it to the right audiences. I have no qualms about writing and bringing up my thoughts to all the relevant players, but these aren’t my stories to tell. Yet the people who need to tell them are afraid of retribution. Even though we should know that it’s entirely within our rights, and in fact, our responsibilities to come forward and share this type of information.
To make matters worse, the original video poster’s initial reaction to me asking a few questions was a position of defense.
Poster: “Ok I understand but who are you if I may ask. Are you a loyal and are you going to help the guy out or…”?
Hesitation. Distrust. Asking who I am and implying the question of “why do you care about this?”
Because I’m a citizen of the same city? Province? Country? Because I’m a person — and this could have happened to anyone.
I hope that sharing this post contributes in some small part to starting a conversation and taking action that helps to restore the trust we have in our officers, judicial system, and our fellow community members. In the meanwhile, let’s see the evidence, judge, and then act appropriately.
