A Police Service Rotten To The Core: WHOPPER WATCH

“Great job on the maps … truckers will love it!”

OPS Const. Isabelle Cyr in a note to fellow officers during the Freedom Convoy

What?

The Ottawa Police Service was acting as tour guide for the Freedom Convoy. What?

Did they provide valet parking?

This protest caused the federal government to impose the Emergency Act and police forces from across the province had to be dispatched to break up this threat to the rule of law. But the above is what the court heard in the trial of two convoy organizers who are each charged with mischief, counselling others to commit mischief, intimidation and obstructing police.

The convoy is probably the greatest cock-up in the history of the Ottawa Police Service and the police are handing out maps to the truckers so they can begin their truck-in.

Well, thank goodness the police weren’t showing sympathy for a bunch of far right-wing nutbars. It looks like the far right-wing nutbars aren’t confined to the convoy. What the police were doing was flying in the face of the rule of law and working at counter-purposes to the will of government and the residents of Ottawa and Canada.

Or the OPS was just stupid. Take your choice.

The OPS now wants hundreds of new uniformed police added to its ‘service’ and Mayor Mark Sutcliffe supports the hiring.

What? For this?

Are there no consequences for an OPS out of control?

And imagine the gall of the police having embarrassed this city around the world but then asking for 400 more officers. What, to overthrow the municipal government? Establish a city police state? Well no, but get real.

Now we take you to the Ottawa Police Services Board meeting of Oct. 6 which we posted on The Bulldog where the OPS says it is asking for 400 more officers and releasing its strategic plan.

The board members asked three worthwhile questions of the OPS and took seven minutes of time to discuss and debate the very important OPS strategic plan. Well … correction … there was no debate.

So what are our options here? People are taking the board to court because of its anti-democratic and charter-abrogating restrictions of debate at its meetings.

Meanwhile, The Bulldog has been saying for years that the OPSB is way too tight with the police it is supposed to oversee.

But looking at the interest level in asking questions of a police vital document at OPSB and the OPS asking for 400 more officers, each making with overtime more than $100,000 a year … no questions of the deportment of the force. No questions.

So is the police services board restricting debate at its meetings because it doesn’t like criticism? Sure.

But watch the video of the OPSB meeting of Oct. 6, particularly the last seven minutes of questions.

With all the terrible issues revolving around a police force in crisis, the board doesn’t address any of them in relation to a failed service and its new strategic plan.

So maybe the board is incompetent.

Or it just doesn’t give a damn.

The politicos have much more important things to do such as celebrate the pouring of the base of the concrete new massive library that is outdated before it is even built. A PR piece of garbage while Rome burns.

Our city deserves better leadership … or better, at least some leadership … you know, any at all.

And we deserve a police service that isn’t rotten to the core. And an OPSB that does what the law mandates that it do.

The level of oversight at that OPSB meeting wasn’t even at the level of a public-school social-studies class.

If the police services board had shame, it should be ashamed.

Ken Gray

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