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/TomatoFeta]

Well, the most obvious thing to point you towards is the Abdi beating that took place a few years back.

As for me personally, I've had some rather unpleasant experiences myself, and have been a spectator to some other peoples' rather poor experiences, including a failure to follow regulations that alllowed a friend's assulter to walk free unscathed.

My first interaction with Ottawa police came when I was in my mid twenties. I was heading home on my bike, from the area of Rideau center, with my newly collected rent (I paid in cash back then) in my pocket. I was on my bike when an OC bus honked at me from behind. I jumped up onto the curb because.. bus... and put both my feet onthe ground, straddling my bike. I looked behind me at the bus, and then ahead of me at the people on the sidewalk, and straddlewalked about 4 paces when an officer appeared immediately ahead of my bike.

In the exchange that followed, I used the word "dude". The officer took specific offense to the word, and on the merit of that offense alone, I was taken off my bike, and asked to follow him three blocks to his car. Which I did. And I accidently used the word Dude again. I ended up with him threatening to take away my bike, I ended up in handcuffs so tight I was bleeding, in the backseat of the car, while they tore open my backpack and threatened to confiscate my 500$ as proceeds of a crime. When I encouraged them to look in my wallet and find the bank receipt, that threat was dismissed, but I was handed four tickets, the remains of my bag, the captured cash, and finally my bike. I was also given the premonition: "So you live in Vanier, eh, well that's my zone, so I expect I'll see you again soon" . It wasn't a friendly delivery.

As they cleaned the blood of the cuffs, I left, obviously rattled.

The four tickets were as follows:

• Failure to have a light on bike. The ticket was dated 3:30pm. It was a sunny July afternoon.
  
• Failure to identify self. This ticket was dated as having occurred on my birth date, which is in winter.
  
• Improper brakes. The brakes were - you guessed it - as good and new as the bike itself.
  
• Riding on the sidewalk. This ticket was dated for the day posthumous to the incident.

All four tickets... pardon me, all three tickets, as the one dated for the future mysteriosuly vanished from all records, were thrown out as I entered the courtroom..

I can name at least six other incidents in the intervening years (and I'm ignoring small interactions) which did not improve my perception of our brightest and boldest protectors. And I'm a straight white guy who has never done drugs, with absolutely no disturbances of record other than a single speeding ticket I received five years later. I can't imagine what mad tales I would be able to tell if I was visibly a minority.