Probably, if you've watched the news at all in the past year, you've seen a few of the clips that show off our police force to their best advantage. For example, there's the Officer Bubbles video at the G20 summit, or the arrest of Adam Nobody. And if you haven't seen those there's always the video of the Ottawa Police attacking, detaining and strip searching an innocent pedestrian.
And if you're like most people you think to yourself that these events are the exception, not the rule.
You'd be wrong. These events, for police around the country, are the norm.
What is exceptional is that they were videotaped and brought to light.
Examine the police reaction to the Officer Bubbles video.
That's right. There was no reaction. The very lack of reaction on the part of the police force normalizes their behavior. If we insist upon exercising our right to demonstration in a peaceable way, they'll insist upon their "right" to abuse us. What is scary is that we allow this. "Officer Bubbles" is an employee of the city, paid for by our tax money, and as such is accountable to us. But if you've paid attention, you've probably noticed there is no accountability within the police force.
Mind you, while there was no reaction on behalf of the police force Officer Bubbles took it upon himself to sue YouTube for allowing comments upon his ridiculous behavior. And the media attention drops to a trickle, because as amusing as the story is (and it's also very, very frightening) it's just not worth the hassle of being sued over.
Or look at the arrest of Adam Nobody. Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair takes it upon himself to allege that somehow Adam Nobody instigated this. Look at the video again. 1 man against how many officers? Even if he did instigate this - and I'd dismiss this as highly unlikely, given the polices departments track record, it hardly warrants the pile up and beating that follows.
What is really frightening is that these events are the norm, it is only the proliferation of portable recording devices that is bringing these abuses to light. Look at the reaction - when there's any at all - of the offending police forces. This is the new normal. Arm yourself, it's a dangerous world out there. And it's the police that are making it that way.