OK, kiddo! Here are all the fantastically amazing posts tagged with Police
Conservative Radio Host Files Police Complaint Over School Anti-Homophobia Initiative
Kari Simpson, an anti-gay activist and conservative radio host, has filed a police complaint against an anti-homophobia program designed to reduce the bullying of LGBT students and foster a safer atmosphere in schools.
Slap readers may remember Kari from the time she unsuccessfully launched a class-action human rights complaint against the B.C. Education Ministry for not introducing the “thousands” of schoolchildren who “suffer from homosexuality and other dysfunctional sexual orientations” to sexual re-orientation therapies. (Oddly enough, not one of these thousands of schoolchildren seemed interested in supporting Kari’s case—or in the universally rejected therapies—which was promptly thrown out by the BC Human Rights Tribunal.)
Anyway, Kari went away for a while. And that was nice. But she’s back now, spearheading an attempt to get the police to investigate Out in Schools, an anti-bullying initiative designed to “facilitate discussion with youth on bullying, homophobia, and stereotypes, [giving] youth a safe space to explore these issues.”
According to Kari, though, the anti-bullying motives behind Out in Schools is really just a clever front. The real reason for the anti-homophobia program, she says, is to “dupe parents and introduce children into homosexist politics and pornography,” effectively recruiting children “into a sexualized culture of porn and games of debauchery.”
Oh, Kari. Where would this website be without you?
So let me respond to this allegation with the only appropriate question: Is Kari actually delusional, or does she merely have an intense psychological need to get in the media despite lacking the intelligence and talent necessary to accomplish this without doing something so astonishingly dumb that people can’t help but become fascinated by the mounds of wiggling, manifested stupidity?
If you have a guess, I’ll gleefully accept it via email, Twitter, and Facebook.
The police, by the way, have yet to comment on Kari’s complaint.
(Special thanks to Slap reader Christina for alerting me to this mind numbing stupidity!)
Hate Crime Reporting Improves
More and more hate crimes are being reported across the country, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
In 2009, the number of hate crime reported in Canada went up by 42%, and police are optimistic. ”It’s not that the hate crimes are actually increasing,” explained Ken Smith from the Edmonton police department’s hate crimes unit. “People are feeling more comfortable reporting it.”
Indeed, hate crimes have been historically under-reported. According to a Statistics Canada survey from 2004, 60% of hate crime victims claimed that they didn’t bother reporting the incidents to the police. A change in this number is welcome news because it allows for more opportunities to catch the people who commit these crimes. This is particularly true with respect to GLBT victims, who are finally feeling safe enough to out themselves to the police and more confident that the police will help them.
GLBT victims, incidentally, need to report these incidents the most. The severest hate crimes—violent assaults—were committed against members of the GLBT community more often than any other identifiable minority, a disturbing trend.
Obviously there’s a lot of work to be done to improve things, but the most important step—reporting hate crimes when they happen—is already happening. So, while I’d be most happy if hate crimes stopped altogether as of last night (one can hope, right?), I take the latest statistics as an encouraging move toward a safer life for everyone.
- Increase in Edmonton hate crimes due to more frequent reporting, police say [Edmonton Journal]
Police Send Terrible Response To Gay-Bashing
A gay-bashing victim who was assaulted in Vancouver earlier this month is very unhappy with the response he received from the police.
Thomas Pope says he was waiting for his friends outside a McDonalds when two men started taunting him with homophobic slurs. When his friends finally stepped outside, the two men turned their taunts to one of them as well, eventually escalating to violence. Thomas was punched several times in the face, and his friend, Jacob Pyne, had a tooth knocked out. Their female friend, Sara, wasn’t targetted. “They said that they had no problem with her because she’s a girl,” Thomas told the press, “they had a problem with [Jacob and me] because we’re “faggots.”‘
The police were called and arrived quickly, but that’s where things got weird. “She was swearing at us and yelling at us, the police officer,” Thomas told the press. “She said it was just a he-said-she-said incident and wouldn’t take my statement; that they were off the clock and we were lucky they even responded to the call.”
It took the involvement of Spencer Chandra Herbert, a Vancouver MLA who was concerned about this story, to get the police’s attention. An internal investigation which includes video surveillance is now underway.
It’s supremely disappointing that the police allegedly behaved in this manner, because reporting homophobic attacks is exactly what needs to be done as soon as something like this happens. Here’s hoping this ends up being resolved quickly!
- Police belligerent and unprofessional at gaybashing [Xtra West]
- Police conduct questioned in alleged gay-bashing [Toronto SUN]
Gay Men Make Up Most Victims of Hate-Motivated Violence
There has been a noticeable jump in the number of reported hate crimes in Canada in 2008, and gay men top the charts as victims of hate-motivated violence, according to a police services report.
The rise in hate crimes is most likely due to better reporting of hate-motivated incidents, which is a very good thing, but these numbers are still way too high. The number of hate crimes logged by police, for example, has risen 35 percent since the year before to a grand total of 1,036. That’s over a thousand victims selected simply because of their race, religion, or sexual orientation with no other motivating factors.
Most disturbingly, 75 percent of all hate crimes involving physical violence (as opposed to vandalism and other non-violent incidents) were motivated solely by the sexual orientation of the victim. Of these, 85 percent of the victims were gay men. This means the gay community, and particularly gay men, are at a hugely disproportionate risk of violence.
This has got to change, and it starts by challenging all casual homophobia before it has a chance to escalate to this level of hate.
- Gay men targets of violence as hate crimes jump [Toronto Star]
Texas Police Raid Gay Bar On Stonewall Anniversary
Police in Fort Worth, Texas have violently raided a newly-opened gay bar on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, arresting seven people for “public intoxication” (inside a bar?) and sending one to intensive care with brain injuries.
Contrary to eyewitness accounts—which describes terrified bar patrons trying to stay out of the officers’ way—a police press release claimed that extra force was required after several patrons made physical sexual advances on the officers.
You know, because, apparently, when multiple angry policemen barge into your local bar and start arresting people, us gays just can’t resist groping them.
Or, as the bar owner put it:
The groping of the police officer—really? We’re gay, but we’re not dumb!
(Thanks, Bruce, for the story!)
- Gays rally in Fort Worth after police raid [Xtra]
- Demonstrators protest police raid on gay bar [Star-Telegram]
Italy’s Gay Policemen Come Out En Mass
Gay policemen in Italy are staging a mass coming-out in protest of anti-gay discrimination in the force.
A spokesperson for the event, Nicola Cicchitti, called the protest a way to counter “creeping discrimination” in the force, where officers often feel the need to stay closeted to avoid ostracism and forced transfers.
Organizers started the event after a gay officer was sanctioned by the force after winning a gay beauty contest posing in uniform for the Mr. Uniform category. Next year he’ll reportedly avoid this by entering in his second-favourite category: Mr. Casual Autumn Wear.
- Italy’s gay policemen join forces to come out [The Observer]
Toronto Police Spied On Gays
The Toronto police used undercover detectives to spy on the city’s gay community throughout the 1980s, according to a surveillance report leaked to the media this week. Community members under surveillance included gay business owners, conference attendees, and candidates running for city council.
I’d tell you my thoughts on the matter, but this line’s not safe. If you want to learn more, meet me at the you-know-where at 11 pm tonight. Come alone.
Actually, on second thought, can we meet at noon instead? A bunch of movies came out, so I want to keep my evenings open. And maybe change you-know-where to Starbucks; I have a gift card that I need to use up and I hear their new orange mocha is amazing!
Alberta Cop Fined For Gay Porn Joke
You know how these police busts go down: A police officer gets a warrant to search a house, finds drug evidence, and replaces the subject’s computer desktop image with the message: “I ♥ gay porn.”
Heh, get it? Now the computer desktop suggests that it’s owner enjoys gay porn and is gay! What a gas!
Comedy aside, Constable Christa Pennie, who was ultimately fined 20 hours’ salary for her prank, turned herself in, expressing regret over the incident:
From the very beginning I’ve had remorse over it. I don’t have any excuse for my behaviour, and making an excuse just cheapens it all.
Pennie also put dental floss between the teeth of two of the subject’s (presumably hideous) ornaments.
- Alberta constable fined over gay-porn joke [Montréal Gazette]
- Cop gaces dicipline for horseplay [Edmonton Journal]
Gays Warned Not To Sway Hips As They Walk
The Philippine National Police has issued a warning instructing its gay officers to refrain from swaying their hips as they walk. Failure to do so will result in their termination.
Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao said that while the force does not discriminate against gay officers in any way, they will fire anyone who “misbehaves:”
As an institution, the PNP does not look at or interfere with one’s sexual preference, but it does look at its members’ conduct.
If they sway their hips while marching, or if they engage in lustful conduct, I think that will be a ground for separation.
I’m not entirely sure how my stride appears to onlookers, but if turns out to be career-threateningly gay, I suppose I’ll need the number of a good physical therapist. Preferably someone cute.
Well, until Monday folks!
- PNP warns gay officers not to swing hips [GMA News]
Gay-Bashing Victim Calls For Public Inquiry
The Toronto police lost an appeal this week after a court fined them for wrongly arresting and beating a gay man while yelling homophobic slurs. The man was arrested for reckless driving and resisting arrest. His van was parked at the time.
As a result of the seven-year ordeal, the victim is now calling for a public police inquiry into the incident.
Good for him. Of course, knowing how these things work, the inquiry will probably take an additional seven years prompting an inquiry into the inquiry. I’ll post an update at that time—though there’s a good chance the web will have been replaced by time-connected cybernetic brain implants. So, if you’re interested in tracking this story’s progress, keep your implant’s neodymium ferro-fluid charged! Until then, folks!
- Probe police conduct, gay bashing victim urges [Toronto Star]
