Has police culture been repaired?

RE: PREACHER AWARDED $60K FOR ILLEGAL ARREST (NOV. 7)

There is a great deal people can learn from the decision of Justice Skarica in which he found five Hamilton Police Service officers civilly liable for illegally dragging Mr. Rikki Jeremiah from his car, handcuffing him, tripping him, putting him to the ground and searching him and his vehicle.

It is clear from the judgment that these officers didn’t know or chose to ignore well-established law relating to their power to detain, arrest and search. They didn’t know or chose to ignore that there is no general power to arrest or detain a person for “officer safety” or for failing to co-operate with a police investigation. The arresting officer provoked a confrontation and no effort was made to defuse it.

Not a single police officer spoke up in an attempt to stop the abuse that one of their colleagues was inflicting on Mr. Jeremiah.

All of these ethical and legal failures took place under the supervision of a sergeant.

The appalling treatment of Mr. Jeremiah occurred in February, 2012. Now that the matter has been dealt with by the court and more than six years have passed, can the Police Services Board or the Hamilton Police Service produce any convincing evidence that the police culture that led to this outrage is no more?

Andrew Bell, Stoney Creek