Most of the time, videos here involve a cop doing wrong. It invariably brings a bunch of comments with words like thuggery and brutality, often accompanied by such brilliant insight about how all cops are evil and deserve to have harm come to them. You wouldn’t know about such comments, as I trash them. They do nothing to illuminate a meaningful issue and reflect the simplistic anger that many have toward the police.
But on the occasion when a cop keeps his cool, even in the face of jerks with cameras who are trying to goad the officer or too blind to recognize that their own bias and cop-hatred prevents them from making fools of themselves, it’s worth showing as well.
Via PINAC and Techdirt, Canadian cop Mark Morelli shows that he can do his job, which isn’t always pretty, without using any force beyond that needed to accomplish an arrest, and then deal with a crowd of idiots calmly and appropriately.
Just as we try to call out misconduct and abuse, it’s critical to both our understanding of, and appreciation for, the services police provide to recognize and applaud a cop who just does his job well. No bystanders were harmed in the making of this video. And while it may bother some that the young woman he arrested, who many believe is putting on a show for the cameras, was manhandled in the process, bear in mind that while we may not be privy to the cause for her arrest, it was just an arrest. It happens, whether rightly or wrongly, and when it does, the reaction should not be to resist except to prevent harm.
Cameras can be a cop’s best friend, even when wielded by antagonistic onlookers. Morelli seizes the opportunity afforded by this recording to explain what he’s done, why he did it and all without tossing out threats or condescension. He exits the situation gracefully, having gained the respect of most of the viewers. That’s how you “win” at being a cop. Communication — communication that asserts authority without using it as a weapon. “These are the facts.” “This is what I do.” It’s professionalism at its best.
It’s not that Morelli should get a medal. He was just doing his job, the right way. And frankly, he was under no duty to spend his time, and make the effort to be heard in the face of jibes from the camera shooter, explaining what was happening. It was a bit of public relations that goes a long way toward helping people to understand that not all police are vicious brutes, and that their job isn’t always pretty.
But in light of so many officers who don’t, he does get the recognition of having handled himself well, and that’s worthy of recognition. And lest it be unclear, it’s not that Canadian cops are somehow better or different than American cops. They can do wrong. But there are good cops and bad cops, and cops who can be good and bad. Just be fair when hating the bad conduct by recognizing the good.
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How quickly you flip to the other side, Scott. My take on this is completely different. I happen to think the fellow taking the film and interviewing the cop at the same time was doing his job as an “innocent bystander”, civic-minded member of the community as well or better than the cop. This is the best check on police conduct/misconduct you could ask for. After all, you’re not going to get these checks from the prosecutors, the courts of law, the law makers of the general assemblies or the governors of the various states/provinces.
And what’s with the lady cop standing there, with her _____ _____ ____ ____!?! The best she could do was tell the filmmaker, “You stay right there, Mister!” Now is he under arrest for “interfering with a police officer”? Since the young lady under arrest was a female, and there was a female officer present, it seems to me as if the lady officer was the one designated to wrestle with the recalcitrant arrestee and place the handcuffs on her. That would have made for better theater in my mind. And/or, as soon as the arrestee said, “I can’t breathe,” perhaps paramedics should have been called. I mean, how fast can she run if she’s having trouble breathing?
Inquiring Minds!
No, I think you got this one wrong, Scott. Have you ever been subjected to “excessive use of force” yourself? Have you ever witnessed excessive use of force upon others, in person, and not on film? One now suspects that you have not. It’s not a pretty picture, and neither was this clip.
It’s a matter of perspective. I am not a cop hater, or even someone who seeks to find only the wrong in a police officer’s performance of his job. There is a reason for this: contrary to those who confuse the defense of people who are accused of crime with the love of defendants and the hate of police, there are defendants who are bad dudes, who harm people, who deserve to be arrested, prosecuted, convicted and punished. Despite my position as a criminal defense lawyer, I do not devolve into delusion that bad people don’t exist. I realize that police, for all that can go wrong, serve a purpose.
I have no issue whatsoever with the fact that the bystander videotaped the takedown. I am unpersuaded that the girl’s “I can’t breathe” was real; if she can’t breathe, she can’t speak. That’s how it works. But the guy taking the video didn’t want to hear the cop, but yell at the cop. A lot of people want to talk at other people, including a lot of cops. No one learns anything from making noise at someone. They learn from listening. The videographer just made noise. So no, he’s not my hero, but that doesn’t mean you can’t love him. You can love anyone you want.
Maybe the 1st rule of policing doesn’t govern in Canada since they have as many guns per person (or more) but far less murders. That cop was certainly professional and seemed to take control of the situation without stopping her screaming or, as my dad would say, giving her something to cry about.
I’m sure you’ve seen the article floating around this weekend where 500+ animals and people killed by Houston PD were all ruled lawful deaths by HPD IA. Every single shooting, even of the unarmed, was unquestionably correct. I’m guessing Houston is more similar to NY than Canada notwithstanding geography.
I’m not entirely sure the First Rule didn’t apply. It was just exercised with far greater precision, showing that it can done with a scalpel as well as bludgeon.
As for every shot of man or beast in Houston in righteous, well, we certainly wouldn’t want police to hesitate to think. It might sprain something.
The viral video (in Canada, at least) and highly publicized shooting by the police of the mentally ill man with the knife on the bus in Toronto in late August of this year would seem to challenge the notion that the First Rule is in effect. Certainly other phenomena, such as the crime of contempt of cop and the need some officers feel to “tune up” arrestees who aren’t sufficiently supplicant, are alive and well in the Great White North. That said, it is not inconceivable that there is on average a difference between the two countries, though whether it is related to differences in culture (either among the citizenry or police culture), differences in training, a much smaller number of firearms or some other factor is an open question.
Or, more correctly, challenge the assertion that the First Rule is not in effect in Canada.
If you clicked the bottom link in the post, you would have found it led to that video. Beat you to it.
As a Canadian, all I can do is politely smile.
While my day-to-day occupation is completely unrelated with any kind of violence, I’ve got some military training related to arresting people. I’ve both trained for this kind of situation and trained people for it. I also know, from personal experience as a training target person, that it is very tempting to use excessive force in ways that risk disabling the target person permanently. (Having a boot or a knee on your neck is not particularly nice, but a very effective way to pacify a rationally acting target, yet it risks severe injury.)
In this case, the use of force seemed to be quite proportional. It does not look nice, and is definitely very uncomfortable for the target, but the risk of severe injury seemed to be little and I don’t think that the police officers were infliciting pain wantonly. I hope I could do as god a job as them, if I were activated for such duty where that were necessary. (I also hope I never will be activated for real, as that would mean a severe military crisis exists in my homeland or her immediate neighbourhood.)
Is this the training that Canadian Police receive? Wow, American Police can take a lesson. It looked & sounded like a Public Employee that takes his Oath of Office serious (if Canada police take an Oath) unlike most UNITED STATES police officers that are gun happy. The young woman seemed to have a problem and was out of control but we do not know the whole story.
This is rare; not because such incidents are rare, but because the general public so rarely hears about them. As in most jobs and professions, the workers who do their work calmly and professionally, are the norm. They are the people we don’t hear about, because little that they do comes to public attention. We fixate on the unusual, the events that have an interesting story. “The (fill-in-the-blank) came in, did their work capably, and left” doesn’t make for good reading, be the worker a barista, an attorney, or a police officer.
Comments like this mystify us. There’s the long response, the intermediate response and the short response. We’ll go with the short response: The cop pictured in the video gets no Academy Award. He tells us nothing while pretending to perform his sworn duty. We do give him a B- for Effort. The lady cop–the rookie?–is totally useless, as ___ __ _ ____. She keeps getting in the way of the camera and issues orders to innocent bystanders. Nice work if you can get it. Have we turned a corner? We’re not convinced by this pathetic video. Next!?!
When you refer to “us” and “we,” are you using in the royal sense or are the voices in your head back?
OK, we can play ball: Both. So there, did I answer the question? Hey look, people get tired of hearing “I, me, my, etc., blah, blah, blah,”… if you catch my drift? So we–excuuuuse me–I
try something different. On the face of it, it worked. Ha. Law Enforcement and the Criminal Justice System are peculiar endeavors/occupations which many of us simpley do not understand, and it gets worse,…
Remember the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association spokesman some years ago who said, most famously, “The public does NOT understand police work.” Well, no kidding!?! No truer words ever spoken. That is the “intermediate response.” We appreciate your rapid attention to these important matters.
But do you argue with each other a lot? Does it give you a headache? Just asking.