Posted on 06/12/2007 7:23:17 AM PDT by oakcon
Shortly after the shooting death of Jordan Manners, the 15-year-old Toronto student, eighth-grade students at nearby Oakdale Park Middle School were called to an assembly. The subject: relations with the police. It's a hot issue in that part of town. The community is in an uproar over the shooting and allegations are flying that police have been heavy-handed in their hunt for Jordan's killer.
But the group invited by the school to address the students weren't interested in improving relations with the police. They were there to fan the flames. Their message to the 12- and 13-year-olds was simple: Don't trust the cops. They are not your friends. They deserve to be hated and feared, because they are bullying, brutal and racist. For good measure, they handed out an offensive little leaflet called "Survival Tactics: Dealing with Police." It kicks off with a reference to Rodney King, the black man who was beaten up by the Los Angeles police several years before these kids were born. "Although it may be difficult, be polite when they are insulting and bullying you," the brochure reads.
Who were these anti-cop propagandists? They were law students from nearby Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. They are volunteers with an outfit called Community and Legal Aid Services Programme, CLASP.
Glenn Stuart, who directs the program, told me that CLASP works with many local schools, starting as early as Grade 5. Its goal is to teach the kids their "rights." In these sessions, students are encouraged to relate incidents of police harassment and alleged brutality. Each kid gets a wallet-sized reminder entitled "Know Your Rights." It has an illustration of upraised fists - presumably representing the masses rising up against their oppressors.
Related Articles Recent
Globe editorial: A code of silence that has to end One dead, three injured in Toronto area shooting Shots only came one way, police say McGuinty eyes handgun ban after brazen shoot-out Internet Links 'Survival Tactics: Dealing with Police' (pdf) Know your rights' (pdf) Needless to say, the police aren't included in these programs. That's because they're the enemy.
In fact, Toronto's police have made admirable efforts to expand community policing and outreach programs. Some officers spend hours of their own time volunteering with youth groups. And yet the cone of silence remains an tough obstacle to solving crimes and protecting the community from thugs. In this neighbourhood, it's better to go to jail than be a snitch. Hundreds of people turned out to mourn Jordan Manners and to demand that the city, the schools, the province and the federal government do something to stop the killing - but scarcely anyone was willing to help police catch the killer.
CLASP's well-meaning law students are mostly middle-class and white. I doubt if any of them have heard a random gunshot in their lives. Oakdale Park's students are largely a mix of Caribbean (mainly Jamaican), Southeast Asian (mainly Vietnamese) and other kids from immigrant backgrounds. Many come from disorganized, single-mother families where discipline is scarce, and they have a multitude of learning problems. The unwitting effect of the messages CLASP sends will be to keep them in the underclass forever.
Apart from hating the police, what other lessons are students learning in Canada's most at-risk schools? The main lesson is that there are no consequences for bad behaviour, or for lack of effort, or contempt for school. Although many of these students can barely read or write, the pressure to show "success" in such schools has grown intense. Teachers are simply not allowed to fail them, because that is said to hurt their self-esteem. (Last year, for example, the York Region District School Board failed just six Grade 8 students out of 8,064.) Nor are teachers allowed to deduct marks for handing in assignments late, or for routinely skipping classes. Teacher after teacher has told me: "The kids are in charge. We aren't."
Adolescents who lack structure in their lives need firm guidance and clear expectations. Instead, the schools offer a therapeutic approach that demands nothing and excuses everything, and pretends that self-esteem can be built without accomplishment. In this world of endless rights but no responsibilities, students learn that they are systematically victimized by society - starting with police and teachers. They learn that their troubles are everybody else's fault. They learn that mainstream values - such as respect for the law - are contemptible. This is called "empowerment."
This is the culture war that's playing out in Canada's most beleaguered schools. And the wrong side is winning.
Amen to that.
It's been my experience that bad cops are the ones that were either too chicken to become a real crook, thought of themselves as too smart to be just a lowly street criminal, were barely prevented from otherwise being a crook by a moralistic family upbringing, or a little bit of all three.
I'm not Sigmund Freud over here, I'm just basing this off of the testimony of several LEO pals I know. I was once told by a good cop pal that he believes that the wayward sons who are seen as 'the black sheep' of their otherwise moral family typically become cops, or at least want to be cops. He also told me that I should thank my lucky stars that more people who have the notion of being the big tough law enforcement man in society are also too chicken to actually sign up for the police academy. He runs into them all the time in the course of his duty: Guys who have nunchucks and SWAT gear and ask cops all kinds of questions about their job.
Authoritarian degenerates with a clean background, as he sees them. I see it too.
Very, very well put.
That describes my attitude towards people in general, and people in the military and law enforcement in particular.
I call it “Default Respect”.
I show respect to people I do not know, until they do or say something to me that shows they are not deserving of it.
The law should be respected. No doubt about it. The laws should also reflect common sense and safety related laws should not be twisted into mere revenue generation techniques. Cops who are mere revenue agents are not deserving of respect when they do not write tickets to other cops their wives and girlfriends. Such instances show their commitment to safety is a fraud.
Sad to say but that is what a lot of the cops believe today. The reaction to the court case that said just because they, the cops, stopped a car for probably cause did not give them probably cause to mess with the passengers was priceless.
When cops start enforcing the laws against fellow cops maybe this will change.
They are law enforcement officers but according to the NJ Supreme Court, they are not there to “protect and serve”.
There's a code of silence. Much as the one that people are pointing out in the neighborhoods.
In some neighborhoods, those who witness but are not involved in a crime are afraid to speak out because of retribution (whether it be by a gang or the mob). We have a witness relocation program for a reason.
Why don't police rat out the crooked cops?
MOST police are good and honest. I have met a few who are bums, but they were the exception. I blame many of the problems in police-civilian relations to people like Al Sharpton, the ACLU and the breakdown of the family as much as I do bad cops- no, maybe more than bad cops, those cultural factors destroy the trust. Reasonable people can see most cops are just trying to do their job.
You’ll also find the officers writing one thing on the paperwork but “changing their story” when they are put under oath.
To me, if they sign a document to file a report on a citizen, they are already making testimony.
When that testimony “changes”, with rare exception, one is a lie.
The only time I’ve run into rude law enforcement types has been at parades, or large outdoor events, where they’re trying to direct traffic and people.
The reason why “Can’t we just all get along” is, because some drunk ass is driving 80 miles an hour and will not pull over, with 20 cop cars behind him. Trust me, if I were a cop, and after I got out of that car, I’d be woopin some ass. Rodney got what every drunk gets when you act like a fool and put everyones life in danger! Then Rodney gets drunk again.... Some fools never learn.......
The reason why “Can’t we just all get along” is, because some drunk ass is driving 80 miles an hour and will not pull over, with 20 cop cars behind him. Trust me, if I were a cop, and after I got out of that car, I’d be woopin some ass. Rodney got what every drunk gets when you act like a fool and put everyones life in danger! Then Rodney gets drunk again.... Some fools never learn.......
To give credit, where credit is due those laws where enacted with a person like myself in mind. Nearly fifty years ago, I had just got a job at the big steel plant in my adopted town. I was walking around and around a small shopping based street. A young policeman confronted me. "I have been watching you" quoth he. "Just what are you exactly doing around here?"
I was almost sick to my stomach. I was from England, scared of police. Well, today the very judge would castigate such a man. The other sided of the coin is this. Recently police pulled over a car and saying the driver was "suspicious". He was a drug carrier from Vancouver to Toronto. Trip after trip recorded- using his charge cards or something.
The judge found the man not guilty. No reasonable cause by the police to stop him and search. My own reasoning comes from a sign in a venerable American Upper Peninsula bar- The Long Branch. It read-
The next time you need help. Don't call a policeman- call a hippy.
The Canadian Bill of Rights meant that criminals rule. (Laughs). The REAL BLAME is on the cowardly thug that killed the lad.
Yeah, I seem to recall that he had multiple DUI's afterwards.
And the benefits of urban culture keep rolling in.
Amen. I got a $140 speeding ticket recently. The ticket said, in effect, the $140 was as low as it would be and that by going to court I was risking a much higher fine.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1848976/posts
I really don’t mean to come off anti-cop. But there’s a problem here...
I checked-out the link to the other thread. I’m not a very sympathetic person about the Katrina disaster. My parents own a home in Slidell, La. The renter in their home left with the first warning, and took her pets as well. Having lived in Louisiana, albeit a relatively short time, that place floods regularly... and yes people had to leave their homes for safety. It was civic disobedience to not leave. People who waited until extraordinary efforts had to be made to rescue them can’t complain when they’re forced to leave a pet behind. If you’re banking on the government providing you everything... then you’re subject to their rules. That said, I can’t imagine why they had to round-up the dogs and shoot them. Maybe it was a rotten deputy, maybe it was a health issue, I’m sure I don’t know enough facts to make an intelligent decision. I try to give police/sheriffs the benefit of the doubt until they prove me wrong.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.