'There will be reckoning': Calgary officers warned about defying 'thin blue line' orders
There has been mixed reaction following the Calgary Police Commission’s order for on-duty police officers to stop wearing the 'thin blue line' patches.
"My initial reaction when I heard the patch was no longer going to be worn by CPS officers is it took a while, but I'm glad that it's happening," said Adam Massiah, with the United Black People's Allyship. "My second reaction was a little bit of disappointment when I found out that direction had to come down from the (Commission), and wasn't at the goodwill of the (Calgary Police Service) and the executive leadership there by themselves, considering their commitment to becoming an anti-racist organization."
The Commission stated that the decision to prohibit the symbol was made for several reasons, including its contentious history in ‘division, colonialism and racism’, and are acknowledging that some wear the patch to ‘honour the fallen’.
"What we are asking here is that our police service not wear a known hate symbol whose origins are buried in hateful thoughts and hateful deeds, when they serve the public," said Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra, who is on the Commission. "If we have members of the service who think that whatever sense of entitlement they have trumps that, there will be a reckoning."
Calgary Police Association president John Orr said a "substantial" number of officers currently wear one, and it’s unclear what the repercussions will be if they continue to do so past Friday.
"The (CPA) will encourage our members to continue to wear the patch," Orr said.
According to Carra, any disciplinary decisions will come down to Calgary Police Chief Mark Neufeld.
"Well, the senior officer has to obey the Commission, and the rank and file has to obey the (senior officer)," he said.
"Citizens oversee the Calgary Police Service and that citizen oversight has made a determination and we will we will get to compliance one way or another."
Calgary councillor Gian-Carlo Carra
"If I saw an officer with that badge on, the thin blue line, I would automatically assume that this person has ill intentions when interacting with me," said Massiah. "That’s not the way that it's supposed to be from a standpoint of a public servant who's there to serve and protect."
LARGER DISCONNECT
Some experts say the disagreement between these two organizations speaks to a larger disconnect.
"There’s lots of ramifications with respect to this," said Kelly Sundberg, a criminologist and professor at Mount Royal University. "Aside from labour issues, (there’s) a challenge with regards to tension between the membership, and their leadership, with the police leadership."
The Calgary Police Commission is made up of 10 members from the community and two city councillors, providing oversight for CPS.
Alberta's Police Act requires the police chief to report directly to the commission and that the commission to give direction to the service through the chief.
A Calgary police spokesperson provided the following statement late Thursday afternoon.
"The Calgary Police Service Leadership team are currently assessing all options in relation to gaining voluntary compliance with the order from the Calgary Police Commission not to wear the thin blue line patch. We will be taking a measured and balanced approach to this and will continually reassess as we navigate this deeply personal issue for our members."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.