POLICE INVESTIGATING POLICE IS A SELF-SERVING, STUPID IDEA

Maybe when that process was first initiated, police had a monopoly on public trust and confidence. Maybe Canadian citizens were much more naive at the time. Certainly American citizens, most certainly black American citizens have known for a very long time that police who were mostly white males (especially sixty years ago) often were blatantly racist and made huge errors of judgement for which they were not held accountable. I expect that any such system of having other police investigate allegations of wrongdoing against police officers was held in utter disbelief and contempt. It amazes me that to this day that that system still is in effect in Canada. Do our politicians and senior police brass actually think that the conclusions reached by that system have any credibility? The real stupidity is that it is likely that there are numerous cases where an officer's actions were not inappropriate much less illegal. That officer will not enjoy public vindication however when the investigator is viewed as a "friend" by the public. ......................................................................................................... Luisa D'Amato wrote an Opinion piece several weeks ago titled "The police should not be investigating one another". She was commenting on the violent takedown of Abdisalam Omer after he had stopped at a gas station in Kitchener. Luisa suggests that it was a miracle that no one was killed that night. Based upon the facts as we know them, I would agree. Here again is the problem. The violent takedown involving multiple police officers was recorded on cameras and videos. The police were not gentle. That said if even half of Omer's behaviour was accurately portrayed then I am pleasantly amazed that he survived that night. Omer was sufferring from a mental health crisis and his behaviour with police officers reflected that. If indeed police seriously believed that the fireworks they heard were gunshots and that Omer was armed, then he is lucky to have survived. Once again there was an investigation by an outside police force who fully exonerated the Waterloo Region Police Service. Not good enough. The system as I've written here before is broken. This archaic and ridiculous nonsense of having police investigate each other does two things. When the blue wall goes up it protects bad cops to the disadvantage of everyone including the good cops. When an honest and forthright investigation and appropriate conclusions are reached, many seriously dismiss it as biased. There are no winners only losers with this process.