Ben Orsiono Incident

It was a time in the city’s history to get the perpetrators of the crime committed and to be recognized as solving the greatest crime of time. Media and public presence played a huge role in pressuring law enforcement to figure out this awful incident. The demand from the public was pushing from all sides of this story to get answers.

The argument of public safety versus civil rights has always been at the forefront of many major political issues in the United States. Civil rights are the foundation of this country, and they protect it’s citizens. But with that, comes the protection of criminals, terrorists, and enemies of the state, and the freedom for these people to move and operate against American ideals. The slightest restrictions on civil rights increases the safety of the general public, enables law enforcement agencies to operate more fluidly, and increases the rate for crushing the opposition.

Since 2013 there have been 268 school shootings in the United States alone (Everytown for Gun Safety, 2017). School gun violence is becoming increasingly probable. It is imperative that our government and our citizens come together to create a solution and implement a plan to prevent and stop the occurrence of school gun violence. The solution, for some, is to bring more guns into the picture by arming teachers, principals, and other school officials, or place armed police officers at school sites (LaPierre, 2015). For others, the solution is to make even stricter laws regarding gun use or to get rid of these weapons altogether. These certainly are drastic options; I must say that I do believe the true solution is to increase the focus on mental health services and by extension, mental health awareness. There is simply not enough focus on the mental health of our youth and of our students. Mental health services are the most important step to making schools safer, because this solution touches the entire problem of violence at its root level.

Howard Morton addresses the issue around street checks used across Canada, which is also known as “carding”. In his article “Investigative Detention and Street Checks” Morton defines the street checks as “an interaction between police officers and members of the public that is generally not related to a specific criminal investigation. However, there have been controversies around this topic since it is “view by many as racial profiling or racist policing” (Morton, 2015).

One recent and tragic international example was the killing of Charles de Menezes, an innocent Brazilian man, in London, England following the July 7, 2005, subway bombings. Because de Menezes was brown skinned, he was mistaken for a terrorist, with fatal consequences. Another fatal incident was the shooting death of a young Aboriginal leader, J.J.Harper, on March 9, 1988. Harper was stopped by a Winnipeg police officer, who had mistaken him for a car thief. A scuffle ensued and Harper was shot, and killed. Harper allegedly had nothing in common with the suspect who was being sought other than his Aboriginal

The first appellant (Bulsey) was placed on a list of suspects who police officer Detective Miles thought should be arrested following a riot on 26th November 2004, where the Palm Island police station was set alight and other buildings were destroyed. The following day, several police officers, not including Detective Miles, and six members of the “Special Emergency Response Team” forcibly entered Bulsey’s home, shouted orders at the seven month pregnant second appellant

In the second part of Parenti’s book, Lockdown America, he discusses policing practices and their proactive strategies aimed at preventing disorder. In this section of the book, Parenti advances his argument by looking at crime through the eyes of law enforcement. Parenti looks at the policies of Bratton, the New York Police Commissioner. Bratton revamped the police force in the city, rewarded those that succeeded and were aggressive in doing their job and those that did not keep up with him were fired or put on the sidelines. His goals was to be efficient on every level, and being efficient meant enforcing the law even for minor offences.

On a Sunday night, a massive shooting occurred in a parking lot behind Etobicoke school, where a man, Abdulkadir Bihi, was killed, and two others were injured. This shooting marks Toronto’s 49th homicide in the year of 2017. The school was known as Kingsview Village Junior School, and it was the second area which was under a shooting under the last four days. The school was along Islington Ave to Dixie Road. Police have started an investigation of who committed the crime. However, during a press conference on Monday, the police claimed that they are unaware whether the two shootings in the same area are linked. “It’s too early to determine whether there was any connection at this point”, acknowledged by Det. Steve Matthews. He also made a claim regarding the two suspects of the murder were “considered to

There has been a significant body of literature which has attested to the veracity of the argument that black Canadians are victimized via racial profiling. For example, the Commission of Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System found that the majority of black respondents surveyed had been treated unfairly by the Canadian criminal justice system (Wortley and Owusu-Bempah, 2011, p.133-134). Furthermore, Canadian research studies have consistently revealed that blacks are more likely to come into negative police contact compared to Caucasians (Wortley and Owusu-Bempah, 2011, p. 135). Alarmingly, suspected black offenders are also more likely to be shot and experience use of force by Canadian law enforcement personnel than their white counterparts (Wortley and Owusu-Bempah, 2011, p. 138).

It is interesting to note there was a stark contrast between day and night activities in the city of Kent. During the day, guardsmen casually patrolled and went about business as usual. In fact, there were even reports that throughout the daytime hours students would have long, peaceful conversations with the guardsmen. However, at night, the violence would break out while mass protests were held, forcing the students and guardsmen to quickly retreat to opposite sides. Once again, on the evening of May 3, non-lethal force was used and people were arrested as the guardsmen again struggled to take control of the violence erupting in the city of Kent Ohio.

In the events of The Halifax Slasher, there was a mysterious killer roaming the streets of Halifax, England. A few girls were attacked but they all survived and reported it to the police. There was a case held to find out who was the attacker but another person was attacked and the news spread around fast since it was a small town. Eventually, there was men out on the street to try to stop the Halifax Slasher because there was a reward for finding the attacker. The men on the street would beat anyone that looked out of place because they would assume that the person would be the attacker. Which made it more dangerous to be on the streets at night. But the Halifax police needed help, so they called in the Scotland Yard. Then one of the couriers of the Halifax Couriers said “Halifax has certainly never had such a manhunt in its history and the hunt generally is probably

Opposing the belief that a dominating leader is running Canada, Barker brings up several key realities of the Canadian government. He gives examples of several “… instances of other ministers taking action that reveal the limits prime-ministerial power,” (Barker 178). Barker conveys the fact that Canada is not bound by a dictatorial government, “…it seems that the prime minister cannot really control his individual ministers. At times, they will pursue agendas that are inconsistent with the prime minister’s actions,” (Barker 181). Both inside and outside government are a part of Canada and they can remind the prime minister that “…politics is a game of survival for all players,” (Barker 188). Barker refutes the misinterpretation of the Canadian government by acknowledging that a prime-ministerial government existing in Canada is an overstatement.

Discrimination is a known concept that happens everywhere, yet police and prosecutors are blind to it. Their ways of preventing crime are discriminatory in every sense of the word and they categorize people based on their skin color and where they reside. The disproportionate minority contact with the stop and frisk method is one of the ways that discrimination can be seen. “Code of the Street” and “Law and Disorder in Philadelphia” help dissect why discrimination is not seen by police and their agencies and also how police officers and their administration go about ways of preventing crime. The pressure within the police, community, and courts create inequalities for the individuals going through the Criminal Justice System.

One of the issues that is rarely addressed in the highly publicized case of the James Blake arrest is the role the undercover Officer James Frascatore played over this September 11, 2015, police operation. While there is no doubt that Officer Frascatore demonstrated the best of his abilities to properly disarm and arrest the suspect, some critics request additional validation of the fact that the arrest of James Blake was warranted. Whereas the media blindly follows Blake’s unreasonable accusations of Officer Frascatore, the facts are speaking for themselves: Mr. Frascatore had a legal and professional right to arrest an assumed suspect Blake over the course of the September 11, 2015, operation.

On Sunday, the mayor of a town in Paris made a statement asking people to remain calm in light of the circumstances that they have been placed in. Earlier in the month, a 22 year old black man named Théo, was allegedly raped by French policemen. He was found to be sodomized by a baton, which police officers carry to use if ever in danger. And now he lays in a hospital getting surgery for all of his injuries. When the news got out about the incident, the people in Bobigny took to the streets and marched with over two thousand people, calling for justice. Unified by their anger, they made and displayed signs and created chants to yell about this injustice as they marched to make others aware of what had happened. However, some people were so overcome by anger and grief, that they broke away from what would have been a simple march and went out and vandalised windows and set cars and windows on fire. They also attacked any police officers that they saw which resulted in being hit back with tear gas. Thankfully, no one ended up injured by the end, but thirty-seven out of the hundreds of people were arrested for vandalism and assault. Many public fixtures were damaged such as a grocery store, local businesses, and a bus station.