A Toronto Police officer believing coppers are “exempt” from parking rules does not require an inquiry.
Sometimes all that is needed is an apology.
And Toronto Police have shown they will offer one when warranted.
For example, Chief Bill Blair apologized to G20 alleged beating victim Adam Nobody for suggesting he may have been armed.
A 31 Division officer also apologized to the students and faculty at Osgoode Hall this week for his don’t dress like “sluts” advice to prevent being raped.
And now, hopefully, there will be a third mea culpa coming to a young, intern reporter here at the Toronto Sun named Victoria Gray.
It would be the classy thing to do.
Here’s how it lays out: Some coppers were having coffee Friday at Adelaide and Sherbourne when Gray is sent over by her editor to take a picture of two of the cars parked illegally.
She did and was walking back to the 333 King St. E. office when, she says, a police officer pulled a U-turn, followed her and then confronted her.
The essence of the conversation was on why she was taking the pictures and once that was established, it should have ended there.
In this democracy people are entitled to take pictures of anything they choose in a public space.
Police, EMS, TTC or city workers are not exempt. Many officers get this but there are still some who don’t.
That some police arrested, detained and physically restrained many journalists during the G20 was a disgrace. There should have been more outrage about that.
It’s too bad the leadership, political and policing, was not more respectful of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and it’s sad they don’t seem serious about addressing all that was broken there.
Gray says this officer told her, “we really don’t care because we’re exempt from the parking laws, you know.”
She says he also told her “sometimes the pictures don’t always find their way into the paper, you know,” thanks to his connections.
Victoria told me she was “scared” and “felt intimidated”.
We were teasing her it’s a good thing she wasn’t blowing bubbles or she could have spent a night in detention!
Small incident? Or telling of current attitudes? The police’s job is to enforce the law. They are never above it.
Certainly in emergency situations they can dump their scout car anywhere they choose but having a morning cup at Tim’s does not qualify.
Police are investigating this but it’s very possible upon reflection the officer feels bad about it.
Gray is certainly prepared to cut the copper some slack because their’s is a tough job, dangerous and busy.
However the problem has become in recent times the perceived lack of discretion shown toward the law-abiding public.
Much of the public are starting to see coppers as authoritarian figures who look to nail non-criminals in a sneaky speed trap while it seems near impossible to get a police car to come anywhere near your problem when a real criminal is victimizing you.
Meanwhile when police do wrong they seem to stick together and appear exempt from repercussions even when a court takes the rare stand to convict them.
Throw in the unresolved G20 fallout and what you have is an unfortunate division between the coppers and citizens that won’t be resolved until the top levels show some leadership and address it.
Victoria Gray was just doing her job and the copper was wrong to attempt to bully her.
But it’s nothing a little apology can’t fix.
joe.warmington@sunmedia.ca
