Haydain Neale, 1970–2009
Transit City and Transit Cities
Peeve Patrol
Newsstand: November 23, 2009
The Making of a Medley
A Star investigation has accused Toronto Police of "dipping into" a public fund meant to compensate civilian victims of crime. According to the newspaper, over four hundred Ontario police officers and prison guards, including 133 Toronto cops, have received a total of $1.5 million from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board since 2005. Surely officers injured in the course of law-enforcement duties deserve good compensation, but the police are already covered by workplace insurance, contends the Star. Well, yes, but would regular insurance pay out pain-and-suffering claims like ten thousand dollars for losing one's love of flea markets, gardening, and "collecting carnival glass"?
And a Toronto man currently faces his third secret detention warrant from the federal government in ten years. Mahmoud Jaballah was originally arrested in 1999 under a national security certificate and detained based on secret evidence that successive governments have declined to make public. Jaballah is accused of being a part of a violent group that planned to overthrow the government of Egypt. He has spent six years in jail and was released into strict house-arrest in 2007. The Canadian government has been unable to deport Jaballah because of the strong possibility that he would be tortured in Egypt.
Another member of the so-called Toronto 18 has pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges in the foiled 2006 bombing plot. Saad Gaya, a former McMaster student, was duped into joining the conspiracy, which he was told would not hurt anyone, his lawyer said. Gaya was fully aware that the group was making bombs and intended to destroy buildings in downtown Toronto.
The former mayor of Winnipeg is eyeing this city's top job, once David Miller finishes up with it. Glen Murray, Winnipeg's mayor from 1998–2004 and now a Toronto resident, joked that he probably knows more than most contenders about leading a big city, though at least one city councillor chided him for comparing Toronto to Winnipeg just a touch too much.
As for Miller, in addition to seeing the details of his severance package published by the Sun (really, those impertinent newspapers!), he lost a major ally in the 'burbs yesterday when Lindsay Luby, the lone Conservative member of Toronto's Executive Committee, quit. Luby's very public departure highlighted tensions between the needs of her Etobicoke constituents and the current municipal government's perceived focus on downtown.
Oh, and while we're on the subject, it turns out that telling people they won't get stimulus money unless they elect a Conservative in their riding is maybe not the sharpest career move in politics.
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There should be no reason for a police officer to receive payments from a fund intended for the general public.
Some of the things that happen to them in the line of duty "come with the territory" and they knew it full well when they were being hired and trained. Moreover, they have their own internal compensation fund.
They have this arrogant attitude of entitlement to just about anything that falls into their field of view. They act like the world owes them everything and they have forgotten that they are servants.
As an aside: I'd love to see just how much of the police payroll is doled out to officers under suspension--for whatever reasons. We hear of officers suspended with pay for 4 or 5 years. How much do they drain out of the police payroll when not working?
Is anyone surprised by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board? Just another government bureaucracy funded by speeders and other 'criminals' with little to no oversight.
The fact that police can apply to the board for on-duty incidents is a slap in the face to real victims.
Police are well paid, well trained and well equipped. They have access to Workers Compensation, all benefits per their collective agreement and any benefits provided by their Associations. Police can retire early with a full pension. They have much more available to them than real victims of crime.
The severance package is a tad generous, but I really don't have any problem with it.
It's so typically stupid of Torontonians to complain about it now when the policy has been in place for years.
The severance package is very reasonable and fair. It is structured like most large corporate compensation systems, and the City of Toronto is certainly a large corporation. The top executive of a similar 8.7 billion dollar organisation would receive many multiples more for even shorter service.
Yep.
The severance is fair, but please don't compare a city with a private-sector corporation. I can't imagine life without CUPE.
RE: Glen Murray
You've GOT to be kidding me.
1. You were the major for Winnipeg for Christ's sake.
2. You were a douchebag mayor in Winnipeg (you wore your sash grocery shopping? Really?).
3. You fucked up Winnipeg so bad Major Katz is still picking up the pieces.
4. You USED your gay constituents to get elected and then turned around and said "Gay who?".
Yea, you know a thing or two :P