Online meme appears to target Ottawa chief

Video questions systemic racism and derides Sloly's attempts to address it

A video appearing to mock Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly, comparing him to Hitler and questioning systemic racism, began circulating on social media Thursday.

The video, which depicts a scene from the movie Downfall that has been turned into a popular meme, is subtitled with captions specific to the Ottawa Police Service and Sloly's recent decision-making.

The service continues to struggle to maintain public trust after major incidents of misconduct and amid an ongoing discussion on both systemic racism and racism within the ranks.

The original audio on the video is in German and the movie is about the final days of Adolf Hitler's rule.

In the video, the characters portraying Hitler's commanding officers address him as “Chief Sloly.”

The officers tell him that “Many officers can be made an example of” and that “Your own Deputy is accused of sexual harassment. We even have officers accused of taking bribes right here.”

The captions then suggest that Sloly is only interested in the “racist meme,” a reference to a meme allegedly made by a police officer in the wake of criminal charges laid against three other officers accused of being involved in a towtruck kickback scheme.

That meme, which pictured 13 current and former Ottawa police officers — 11 of them racialized — also circulated in the community in April. One officer has been charged with discreditable conduct, insubordination and deceit under the Police Services Act for allegedly making the meme, distributing it and providing false information in an interview. That officer is Indigenous.

“I've already told the media about the racist meme,” the captions in the video read. At that point, the officers tell “Chief Sloly” that the creator of the meme is Indigenous and “not a white officer.”

The video then mocks Sloly's decision-making as he forces “everyone who doesn't believe in systemic racism” out of the room and asks his command why he wasn't informed the officer “wasn't white” before he told news outlets about the meme.

“I told them all it was a disgusting racist meme! I picked this moment to show my righteous anger and now you tell me that I've gone and called an Indigenous man a racist! How do you think I look calling a minority a racist!”

The captions then suggest Sloly was using the “moment to shine.”

“White cops are terrorizing the city streets and harassing black and brown gang members. Black Lives Matter demands justice!”

The captions also suggest Sloly is treating white police officers, who remain a majority on the police service, unfairly, and protecting officers of colour.

“I was going to show the world … how racist and awful white cops are in this city and in this country! Everywhere I look officers of colour are getting into trouble just as much as the whites. How long do you think I can ignore that?

“I look unhinged when I lose my mind over a little meme, then nothing about a black man's sexual assault allegation.”

That is a reference to another case of an officer suspended this month after a rookie colleague, in a human rights complaint and two subsequent investigations, accused him of raping her.

“I'm tired of people asking me to show them examples of systemic racism in policing. Just agree with me. It doesn't have to make sense. Just accept that a systemically racist police service would continually promote a black man until he becomes Chief,” the captions read.

No one has taken responsibility for creating the video, nor is it clear whether a police officer was involved.

The video began circulating Thursday and was shared on social media by an account called @DepolicingNow at 9:43 p.m. with the caption “Don't put all of your eggs in one basket. Ottawa Police 2020.”

That account was created in August. The account's bio reads: “Possibly a street cop in Canada who follows the path of least resistance. Depolicing now, forever and until the day of retirement.”

The theory of de-policing, most widely advanced by researcher and former Ottawa police officer Greg Brown, is that officers, facing intense scrutiny, will stop proactive policing in response to that scrutiny as a sort of cost-benefit analysis.

Brown said Friday the frustration evident in the video was consistent with the data generated in his study of front line officers across North America.

Brown said he continued to receive dozens of emails a day from officers about their “perceived lack of support from the chain of command. The phrase `thrown under the bus' comes up a lot.”

While these moments of intense scrutiny might lead to de-policing and officers disengaging with the community, voicing that frustration also contributes to a divide between officers and the public.

“This is certainly going to be received in a negative way by a certain percentage of the population,” Brown said. But, when officers who are prone to de-policing hear that, the situation is just exacerbated, he said.

“It just sort of becomes a vicious circle of lack of trust on both sides.”

The video is the latest iteration of what appears to be officer frustration with Sloly expressing just that. In an op-ed published by this newspaper on Sept. 4, Sloly wrote that “systemic racism occurs when organizations implement policies, procedures and/or practices that, whether deliberately or as an unintended consequence, negatively impact racialized persons.”

While Sloly wrote that systemic racism doesn't condemn all officers, it does mean that “all members and the organization must recognize and own the reality of individual biases and systemic issues, then be collectively committed to addressing them on an ongoing basis.”

Sloly said the service would apologize to a Black driver who was erroneously pulled over by an officer who thought the validation tag on his rental vehicle's licence plate was expired. It wasn't.

Sloly said reviewing that traffic stop and the video the driver took of the incident would be required of every Ottawa police employee who will “then take part in facilitated sessions on conscious/unconscious bias, anti-Black racism and racial profiling. These may be difficult discussions, but they are necessary.”

In an open letter, Ottawa Police Association Matt Skof called Sloly's op-ed “reckless” and said it had “inflamed the workplace.”

The OPA declined to comment on the video.

The Ottawa Police Service did not reply to a request for comment.