We're Not Mexico...

...but does a day go by that we don't read about deadly violence on Toronto streets.

Man killed during nuit blanche


While downtown swelled with Nuit Blanche revellers on Saturday night, a 25-year-old man was shot to death outside Trinity Bellwoods Park while sitting in his car

How Do Ensure They Are Not Exploited...

...by biker gangs, gangstas and criminals associated with East European and Oriental organized crime.

Globe editorial


Liberalize prostitution laws to protect women

Allowing prostitutes to use drivers and bodyguards, to screen their clients and to work indoors will dramatically increase their safety. Apr 10, 2011 8:14PM EDT 0

Stockwell Day Wins One...

Stockwell Day 1, media 0


Goldstein: Unreported crime jumps at an ‘alarming’rate, proving his ‘absurd’argument was right. Over the summer, Treasury Board President Stockwell Day took a pounding from Ottawa’s chattering classes for observing the amount of.. MORE...

Supermarket Tabloid Journalism...

"Bonnie And Clyde?" 

For god's sake the original ones were made folk heros by the media of the day but the reality is they were just common criminals.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. - An escaped killer with a handgun and a hitchhiking sign expressed relief at his capture after 10 days on the run, while authorities searched to the north of this tourist-packed park for a second fugitive and his female accomplice, a self-styled "Bonnie and Clyde." 10 August 01:21

If It Looks An Elephant, Feels Like An Elephant, Etc. Etc. It Probably Is An Elephant.....

....and I find it a little confusing when "racial profiling" is used in hiring it is applauded but it is condemned when tthe elephant logic is used in crime fighting.

Feeling the sting of racial profiling
TheStar.com - Opinion - Feeling the sting of racial profiling

PAUL LACHINE/NEWSART

Deputy chief says police must stop denying the issue exists and support policies that address it

October 01, 2009

The following is excerpted from a speech delivered Wednesday by Keith Forde, deputy chief of the Toronto police, on the subject of racial profiling:

This subject matter is extremely controversial and evokes different emotions.

Often, people who have made the conscious decision not to police based on stereotypes and misgivings, but on evidence and facts are lumped in with those who do.

Many times discussions break down when officers feel that they have been unfairly labelled as racially profiling, when they are not.

Officers don't feel like they have the ability to have an honest dialogue about the topic of racial profiling. They will either be labelled as traitors to their peers for pointing out behaviours that would constitute profiling, or they would be seen as racists for condoning behaviour that could be interpreted as profiling.

They often wonder "how do we know racial profiling even exists?"

Well, we know because it is a lived experience that has been shared among thousands. We know because our kids, our families and our friends tell us that it exists.

We know because many of us have felt the sting of racial profiling at some point in our lives and it has rocked us to the core. We know because the community – through meetings, discussions and partnerships – has vocalized its opinions on what needs to happen at the Toronto Police Service.

I don't say it with pride, but with purpose that I am intimately familiar with the topic of racial profiling – as an officer, a deputy chief and a black man...

Of everything I've learned and been told over the years, I can say with confidence that the following 10 statements accurately reflect what the community wants the police to know:

The police service must stop denying that racial profiling is a reality. It is problematic and no longer acceptable in a multiracial society as it feeds into negative stereotypes about certain groups, particularly, racialized groups such as African Canadians.

Communities are not fabricating racial profiling; it is an everyday lived reality.

Police services need to be cognizant and aware of the impact of racial profiling. Over-policing of certain communities, reinforcing negative stereotypes, lack of confidence in police, and combative relationships between the police and certain communities serve to erode the public's trust.

Racial profiling is a subconscious decision. Therefore, the police need to unpack their own stereotypical thinking. They need to become more conscious of their own biases and acknowledge that we all hold biases...

It is critical for those in senior management and the leaders of the police union to stop being so defensive and in such denial about racial profiling. It is time for them to support constructive and meaningful policies and procedures to address racial profiling.

Police officers always need to check their biases and stereotypes to ensure they are policing us all fairly and equally.

Racial profiling can serve to undermine an officer's ability to properly and effectively police and protect particular communities. The communities they protect include African Canadians who are also victims. If certain communities are perceived solely as perpetrators or criminals, then the services they receive or fail to receive will also be biased.

Racial profiling undercuts trust and works against crime prevention. If communities that are profiled don't trust the police, they will fail to report crime, cooperate with the police and seek the assistance and support of police in situations such as domestic violence.

This lack of trust can have serious consequences and backlash and serves to erode the safety and well-being of certain neighbourhoods and society as a whole.

The experience of racial profiling over a prolonged period of time has eroded the trust in certain communities within the police. The responsibility and duty to rebuild this trust lies primarily with the police.

You see, this is what the community is feeling. We cannot afford to ignore their profound experiences. We also must deal with how these same experiences are having an impact on our officers...

Although we uphold and maintain the law, police aren't perfect. We are bound to make mistakes and that is okay. It's part of the human experience...

The important part is that we as a service learn from the mistakes that are made and address them head-on with sound policies, training, improved supervision, community involvement and accountability...

Now, allow me to take our memories back to October of 2002, when the Toronto Star published the first article in its "Race & Crime" series on racial profiling.

While many in the black community, including many black uniform and civilian members in police services across the province, appreciated the statistics for providing a scientific validation and voice to their experiences, others outside of the community disputed the validity of the research itself.

Three high-profile opponents were the then-chief of police, then-Toronto Police Association president and then-mayor of Toronto. They had all claimed in some form or other that racial profiling simply did not exist. Those words stung so many in the community and in the police service, especially because they were coming from people in leadership positions...

When Bill Blair was appointed chief in 2005, one of the first things he did was to bravely admit that racial profiling did exist. He also vowed to work hard to change the systems that were complicit in upholding inequalities.

At the Toronto Police Service, we have developed many ways to address the issue of racially biased policing and the overarching factors of prejudice and discrimination...

Now we have a better and more positive relationship and understanding with Toronto's diverse communities, which helps us to better relate and work together.

I Saw Nutting...........

3 men shot in crowded club
By CHRIS DOUCETTE, SUN MEDIA
Three apparently innocent young men were wounded early yesterday when gunfire erupted in a crowded nightclub on the city's waterfront.

It Looks It Will Never End

Until those who are trying to make a difference get the support of the entire community who still seem to be harboring the garbage that are committing these crimes. The police seem to be doing their job but we don't seem to be putting these punks where they belong.....gulags, etc. Now we have elevated gang violence over control of drugs to a "feud." What bullshit!

Blood feud feared

Jane-Finch residents say latest murder will spark even more violence
As police hunt a youth who fatally stabbed a suspected gang member and left a second man wounded, the wary Jane-Finch area is bracing for an increase in violence.

Nothing to see here, folks

Suspects wanted for questioning in a stabbing and fatal shooting last night are...

A black male in his late teens, wearing a khaki-coloured jacket and light-coloured blue jeans;

A black male in his early- to mid-20s, wearing a black, hooded jacket with logos on the left and right chest. He also wore a black baseball cap, blue jeans and dark-coloured shoes;

A black male in his early 20s, wearing a dark jacket with a white-lined hood and a dark baseball cap;

A black male in his late teens, wearing a camouflage-style jacket with a skull on the front of the chest, a matching baseball cap, black pants and black shoes.

...at Jane and Finch...of course, the fact that all four suspects and both victims are black in a predominately black neighborhood which is also teeming with a disproportionate amount of the violent crime in the city, is probably just a coincidence.

Posted by Wonder Woman in Crime and Violence | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Technorati Tags: Jane Finch

Comrade Miller's Priority Should Be Health & Safety

Provide safe drinking water, get rid of the garbage, keep our streets safe from crime, come when I have a fire, come when I need medical attention and keep the roads in good repair. When he has accomplished that then he can start saving the world from global warming, broaden our appreciation of the "arts," etc.

Investing in the future Leaders say how city should spend its money

By ZEN RURYK, CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF

Toronto's a beauty in a shoddy dress.

A city of neighbourhoods, the majority of Toronto residents enjoy a good quality of life.

However, it's not long before anyone who spends some time in Toronto sees that Canada's largest city bears scars of neglect.

Streets pockmarked by potholes, community centres and arenas in need of repair and watermain breaks -- flowing from a reliance on old and decaying subterranean pipes -- are examples of the infrastructure problems facing city council.

The Toronto Sun went outside City Hall to find out what leaders of business, labour and others think is needed to get the city on track.

Concerns about Toronto's transportation system dominate discussions about the city's infrastructure problems.

MORE

Can Bloggers Get This Garbage Off Our Streets

Huge response after Interpol unmasks serial paedophile
Interpol has said it is hopeful of identifying a serial paedophile after posting his picture on the internet in an unprecedented public appeal that drew hundreds of responses from around the world.

Fun, then horror at dance Teen shot at contest clings to life

By ROB LAMBERTI, SUN MEDIA

An 18-year-old is on life support and not expected to survive after being shot in the head as awards were being handed out at a dance competition early yesterday.

The gunfire sparked a chaotic scene as hundreds fled into the streets and through residents' backyards. Story

Shotgun fired at tot party

By ROB LAMBERTI

A 25-year-old illegal immigrant from the U.S. faces numerous firearms-related charges after blasting a shotgun during a dispute at his daughter's christening party.

Toronto Police say a man got into an argument with his 11-month-old girl's grandfather around 8 p.m. Sunday at the Calypso Hut Restaurant on Victoria Park Ave. at Sunrise Ave. in Scarborough.

The man was booted out of the restaurant, grabbed the firearm and fired a blast. One woman was injured by flying glass while another female was hit in the leg with a pellet that didn't break the skin, police said. Story

If You Committed A Crime You Should Be Doing Time

This might be amusing but do you think it is as effective as ordering the perp to have all the zippers on his pants welded shut.......

Commit a Crime, Do the Time -- in a Chicken Suit
At first glance, a man in a bird costume may look like a walking billboard for fast food. But for one Painesville, Ohio, man, it's actually a form of punishment for soliciting a prostitute.

Don't We Have Better Things For The Police To Do

Maybe if we sent these vandals to jail for a couple of months we wouldn't have to setup another tax funded bureaucracy.

City may ban sale of spray paint to minors

The city is looking at banning the sale of spray paint to minors as a way to stop vandals from defacing Toronto with graffiti.

Another Example Of Canadian Injustice System

When are we going to start punishing people for their actions rather than their intentions. Was this child's pain and suffering any less?

Mom's abuse conviction overturned

By SAM PAZZANO

Ontario's highest court has overturned convictions against a Toronto mother convicted of aggravated assault and failure to provide the necessities of life in the abuse of her 4-lb. baby.

In a judgment released yesterday, the Court of Appeal ordered an acquittal for the now 25-year-old woman on the failure charge, citing the verdict as unreasonable due to a lack of evidence.

The court also quashed the assault conviction and ordered a new trial, noting the trial judge Justice Peter Jarvis erred in his instructions to the jury on that offence.

"My client is ecstatic. She has always maintained her innocence," said her appeals lawyer Greg Lafontaine.

"The conviction that was registered for aggravated assault was seriously flawed. The judge gave misleading instructions that led jury members to believe they could convict my client for assault even though she never intended it to happen.

The Canadian Injustice System

10 years for taking a life? Eligible for parole in 3 years. The sins of the parents influenced the judge's judgement. Another left wing bleeding heart injustice.

Cabbie killer gets 10 years

By SAM PAZZANO, COURTS BUREAU

A crack-addicted bandit who killed Toronto cab driver Morteza "Johnny" Khorassani was sentenced yesterday to 10 years.

Shane Smith, 20, who was acquitted of second-degree murder but found guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter, had a tragic background with two addict and criminal parents, said Justice Brian Trafford.

Smith stabbed the 42-year-old cabbie in what Trafford called "a senseless and random act of violence."

Khorassani staggered out of his Able Atlantic cab, mortally wounded by Smith, a customer he'd just picked up in that night in September 2005.

The death devastated a loving and stable family and deprived them of a kind, generous patriarch, Trafford said.

Both of Smith's parents were addicted to drugs and sent to prison for crimes. But these aren't excuses for the heart-breaking events of Sept. 6, 2005, Trafford said.

Thanks Rosie.....Gang Violence Goes Beyond The Streets

Women key players in gang opsheStar.com - News - Women key players in gang ops

June 15, 2007

Rosie DiManno

They call themselves the Driftwood Crotchers and they will shoplift booty-to-order, shoving it down their pants.

A collective of gangsta chicks, these sisters have been doing it for themselves – unilateral operatives – with Yorkdale the preferred mall for thieving, according to police.

"People call up and say, `It's Christmas, I need clothes,'' a Toronto detective told the Star yesterday. "That's what they do for a living."

At least some purported Crotchers were arrested during Wednesday's massive raids, among the 29 women whose names appear on charge sheets. One alleged Crotcher, 20-year-old Schanelle Brown, is facing eight charges, including possession of stolen property.

The distaff side was surprisingly well-represented yesterday as accused had their first up-and-down court appearances, dishevelled and truculent over the wheels of justice turning at a glacial pace – never even got around to the question of bail, crown attorneys apparently overwhelmed and unprepared for the congestion of defendants.

Females accounted for about a third of the arrests that resulted from Operation Kryptic, targeting the Driftwood Crips. This brings a new dimension to the disruption of lives in that neighbourhood.

Girlfriends, middle-age moms and teenage baby-mothers either fell into the dragnet as alleged participants in criminal activity or got caught up in the riptide of events.

Here We Go Again

All of the law and order social in-activists sobbing crocodile tears, pulling out their designer hair and tearing their clothes and calling for a stop to high speed police chases and allowing fleeing criminals to voluntarily turn themselves in. This appears to be a seasonal thing but these social in-activists have short memories. In 20 cases of high speed chases investigated by the SIU, a civilian oversight group, only one charge has ever been laid and this was a non-criminal charge.

Car crashed at 150 km/h: Lawyer
Betsy Powell 23 min. ago
Fifteen-year-old Chevon Josephs was driving at about 150 km/h when he crashed into two cabs early Saturday, while the police following him weren't going much faster than 100 km/h, according to Gary Clewley, the officers' ...

Let's Give The Elephant A Rest.......

......at least for the weekend.

John Oakley: Toronto gun violence and the bigger elephant in the room

John Turley-Ewart: The Shooting of Jordan Manners generates the same tired mantras about guns and the US

It Wasn't An Illegal Handgun That Killed Jordan Manners

It was the attitude of some members of the black community.First when there is a shooting witnesses do not come forward and assist police and secondly it almost takes the second coming of Christ for the public to get information about the suspect when they comes under the YOA.

Suspect identified in Toronto school shooting
Updated Fri. May. 25 2007 6:46 PM ET
toronto.ctv.ca

Toronto police have identified a suspect in the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Jordan Manners, CTV News has learned.

But the suspect, believed to be a teenaged boy, remains in hiding and police have not released his name, reported CTV's Jim Junkin.

How much of an impact would a handgun ban make in preventing tragedies like this week's fatal high school shooting?
A great deal 16%
Some 13%
Barely any 71%

Total Votes for this Question: 1504

Look Beyond The Philanthropy To The Seamier Side

Why was Glen Davis the target of a killer?

Hey Jessica!

A harrowing and enlightening experience I have to wonder if you might discuss with the editors of The Star their campaign to vilify the police especially their position on racial profiling.

How Toronto the Good turned vicious one night
FIRST PERSON | She and a friend took the shortcut home. Jessica Hume learned some very bitter lessons
May 20, 2007
Jessica Hume

Maybe it's because I was born and raised in the heart of Toronto the Good, but dark alleys, empty schoolyards and parks have never been places I've avoided – day or night.

So last Friday night when my male friend and I left the bar, even though it was dark and getting close to 3 a.m., we decided to take the shortcut home, the one that goes through the track field beside Eastern Commerce Collegiate, south through Phin Avenue Parkette and across an unlit alleyway heading west toward Riverdale.

It wasn't long after we'd entered the schoolyard when I heard shuffling behind us. I turned around and saw three stocky men walking toward us, each wearing a black sweatshirt, hood up.

I kept walking, but within seconds my friend and I were surrounded by them; one came up from behind while the others swarmed us on either side.

Unsure of how serious this would get, I did a quick scan of the field to see if anyone was around. Not a soul.

"Yo, you got cigarettes? How much money you got?" They circled around us like a pack of wolves, pushing and grabbing, looking for something to take. "What else you got? Give me everything you have!"

The most aggressive of the three wore a white and black bandana across his face. In the dark he looked mean and sounded angry. He came up to me and asked what was in my bag, trying to grab it. Determined not to part with anything, I didn't let go. Another attacker yanked my friend's bike key from his pocket and then repeatedly asked where the car was, not convinced it was a bike key. These young men were not smart; they were stupid and angry, a dangerous combination.

Yo.......