Post by Souriquois on Apr 24, 2018 19:05:20 GMT -4
Lol well, the rules are kind of different in Canada. All police uses of force are investigated, in some provinces by a civilian panel (I have been on one myself, in my province,you get ordered to it like jury duty). A police officer can get charged if he shot a suspect and the suspect died... especially if they’re unarmed.
It’s not guaranteed they’d be found guilty, obviously, but it’s still probably not worth it for the officer, because there is the chance they will be found guilty, and while they are waiting for trial, they will likely be on leave with reduced pay. Then even if they are found not guilty, they could still be fired or reassigned to some shitty job.
And, if the use of force is determined as justified, there is more BS to deal with. If that cop shot the van driver, which I could imagine the force and the general public would consider justified, the cop would still have to go on leave for a while, and get mandatory mental health treatment (because let’s be real, killing someone is bad for your mental health) and be cleared by a psychiatrist before returning to duty, and during that time, I think his pay would be reduced (generally in Canada if you have to go off work sick, you get 2 months full pay and then only 80% of your pay after that, up to a year).
And I think it’s more of a demonstration, Canadian police officers are paid well and have strong unions and worker protections (yeah that’s some lefty shit), American police officers don’t make much at all and they are not treated well by their employers... so if I was in their shoes I’d probably not put my life on the line, either. I think it’s borderline criminal how bad the labour conditions are for police officers in the US. I even remember raising that point on ABF in regards to the shooting of unarmed black men, because I do think it’s a factor, and some of the black members agreed with me.
.... it also calls out the bullshit of the Blue Lives Matter rhetoric. Obviously, blue lives only matter when it’s convenient, because, well, I am not a big fan of cops, but how American politicians (read Republicans) treat them is just awful. Like, they voted against the 9/11 First Responders Bill, which gave pensions to police officers permanently disabled when responding to those attacks, for crying out loud! Like how low can you go?