Rating Law Enforcement Online
Mark Schatzker of The Globe noted this week the launch of a new website, JudgeMyCop. Given the scrutiny towards police officers in the GTA following the G20, it’s no surprise that there are Schatzker provides a few amusing parodies of the conflicts, both on the side of law enforcement and the side of the protesters.
Also not surprising, the still emerging blog already has a couple of entries related to the G20, largely links to mainstream media. But many of the existing officer reviews on the site largely deal with what appear to be legitimate offences, dealt with perhaps in a more gruff manner than ideal, but otherwise properly.
The site was founded by a 21-year-old McMaster business student, Andre Borys, who himself was the recipient of a $60 ticket. Although Borys acknowledges the offence was legitimate, he wanted the officer to be more polite to him.
Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto Police Association, understandably has expressed some misgivings,
I’m concerned whenever there are negative, one-sided comments about our officers that could encourage some sort of negative behaviour towards police.
On public domain blogs people obviously have certain rights and freedom of expression, but we’ll be monitoring it to ensure that it doesn’t cross the line and become a legal issue.
Complaints during the G20 have already become a legal issue for some Toronto police. Const. Adam Josephs has a current case before the courts for $1.2 million over protesters who labeled him “Officer Bubbles” and made allegedly defamatory statements about him in the context of the G20.
However, many of those affected by the G20 are finding their complaints are not properly being investigated, largely due to budgetary and financial constraints. They are even frequently being referred to the same agency they have issues with, resulting in rather pessimistic expectations of any equitable outcome.
If citizens cannot get some form of resolution from public inquiries or investigations, they will obviously turn to the Internet to express their frustrations. The implications internally for officers who consistently receive negative reviews over a long period of time is yet to be determined.
What JudgeMyCop does confirm yet again is that reputation management law is still the next big thing.
Comments are closed.