Toronto Police are out of control

[JohnyCanuck]

The issue of Metro Toronto police wearing a tag that displays their name and or badge number on the outside of their uniform has come to the forefront of discussion again.

Last week a film on you tube by local activist, film maker and radio host Daniel Libby featuring this writer at a rally to support the Egyptian uprising has gone viral on the internet. The film features the infamous officer A. Josephs (A.K.A Officer Bubbles). The reason I choose officer Josephs to approach about being one of the half dozen officers there who were not wearing a tag was because he was the only one I knew by sight and could identify by name who were not wearing name or badge numbers that day.

The fact that he refused to recognize me when I politely said, “Excuse me, officer,” was openly rude and threatened to arrest me as a member of the public who merely wished to ask a question, is to me all the more reason police officers need to be able to be easily identified by citizens. Also being winter time these officers who did not wear tags were also wearing cold weather head gear and sun glasses that partially covered their faces as well. Other than officer Josephs, who has become famous for his open rudeness and disdain for the general public none, of the other officers that were not wearing tags could be identified.

snip

After the G-20 in Toronto last June, Chief Bill Blair of the Toronto Police Service told a Commons public safety committee that 90 officers will face disciplinary action for failing to wear their ID badge. During committee questioning, Blair said he believed some of the 90 officers were trying to hide their identities. One of the main reasons there were not more charges laid against the perpetrators of the wide scale violence committed on the public was due to the fact that the police officers breaking the law could not be identified. The fact that more than six months later the rank and file are still thumbing their nose at the law and the rules that govern the conduct of the police in this city, clearly show that the police are out of control and that Bill Blair as chief cannot control his officers.

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_6902.shtml