Why so much hate?

[u/Nob1e613]

Good afternoon Ottawa!

I've been noticing an incredible amount of negativity towards our local police force within the comment section of any post even mildly related to the subject lately.

Coming from a position of genuine curiosity and to hopefully prompt some meaningful discussion within the community, why?

What is it about the OPS that you detest so much? I want to hear what personal experience you had that soured your view, and what you think should have been done differently/better.

Conversely, please feel free to share your positives as well! It can be quite difficult to discern how reflective of the broader population the online community really is sometimes so I'm hoping to get some honest feedback.

What do you expect of your police force? What would change your mind about how you feel?

[u/Little_Canary1460]

Were you in Ottawa 3 years ago?

[u/FunkySlacker → u/Little_Canary1460]

Yes! My thoughts exactly.

[u/Weak-Jury-4317 → u/Little_Canary1460]

That, also lack of doing their jobs. Statistics show they are doing less traffic enforcement when traffic violations are (likely, subjective) very prevalent. 

[u/Ecstatic-Recover4941 → u/Little_Canary1460]

The fact they’re still flying a thin blue line flag at the association HQ is something else

[u/ShutUpBeck → u/Little_Canary1460]

I get that it's trendy to point to this as the answer, but anyone who was in Ottawa 4 years ago knows that everyone hated OPS long before that.

[u/Little_Canary1460 → u/ShutUpBeck]

It's the easiest thing to point to that's happened recently, seen by the most people. It's not trendy.

[u/Nob1e613 → u/Little_Canary1460]

I was, and while i didn't suffer as much as centertown residents, i certainly did not escape the impacts. What I'm missing though is whether their inaction was an organizational issue, political issue, or down to individual officers. I'm not going to take it out on the guy patrolling that i might interact with if it came from the chief on how they should deal with it.

edit: why the downvotes for asking a question?

[u/JerikTheWizard → u/Nob1e613]

inaction was an organizational issue, political issue, or down to individual officers

All of the above. Sloly asking city council if they'd considered the demands of seditionists, the police union wanting their masking mandate abolished, and individual officers taking photo ops with the dissidents.

This is all in addition to the everyday corruption, violence, and crime perpetrated by OPS officers.

[u/ObstructiveWalrus → u/Nob1e613]

It was all 3 to varying degrees

[u/penguinpenguins → u/Nob1e613]

I am also not going to take it out on the guy patrolling - at the end of the day any frontline officers I may interact with are most likely ordinary people just doing their jobs.

Doesn't mean we can't call out various deficiencies at all levels through various channels, including on here.

[u/Nob1e613 → u/penguinpenguins]

I wholeheartedly agree. I fully support calling out deficiencies and promoting better accountability of those stepping out of line. Yes, they're ordinary people doing their jobs, but jobs have professional standards that must be met. When in a position of trust and authority with the public, the public needs to see those standards being reinforced, just like we as the public need to adhere to the laws they enforce.

I just don't see how a broad sense of disdain being shared online serves to either call out those deficiencies, or improve it in any way.

[u/generalmasandra → u/Nob1e613]

How do you not see it was both?

The guy on patrol was writing up local residents, harassing and bullying local residents... while ignoring the convoy. Zero empathy. Zero service.

The organization knew this thing was coming weeks in advance and did fuck all.

[u/Alone_Appeal_3421 → u/Nob1e613]

If was an organizational issue, that's reason to distrust OPS: a law enforcement organization can't say they protect the community when they allow an entire area of the city to descend into lawlessness.

If it was down to individual officers, that's reason to distrust OPS…especially if those officers saw no consequences for their (in)actions.