Respectability vs RESPECT: Part Two

This and this are connected.

Different women, separated by class, professional status, age, resources and geography.

The connection between these women: they shared an intimate and sexual space with men who did not respect them. These men, feeling unjustly deprived of 'their' entitlements,  deliberately and malevolently harmed and tried to injure them by exploiting the double standard about women's sexual expression that still persists in this 21st century.

In the case of *Nicole* and *Kim* in Halifax, the vindictive actions of a man who felt justified to impugn the respectability of his ex-lover, and to physically endanger her (and her house-mate) were documented by the victims.  Yet the crown attorney declined to pursue criminal charges for what *Adam* did.

As for Lori Douglas in Winnipeg, the first inquiry that thrust her into public view was dropped but a newly formed Canadian Judicial Council panel will be looking at her case - again.

There was one basic question that was never adequately addressed. Given that Douglas testified she had no knowledge of the proposition Jack King presented to his client — an 'invitation' for Chapman to have sex with her — nor had she consented to his initiative, was her spouse effectively trafficking her, and setting her up to be sexually assaulted as well?

It's a moot point now: King died last April, and that aspect of the complicated inquiry was dropped.

It appears to me that it is these women's respectability that is being judged, rather than the criminal actions of vengeful men.

Remember the Rehtaeh Parsons case?  Media attention put a spotlight on the reluctance of the RCMP to adequately investigate the multifaceted and unrelenting sexualized violence that led to her suicide. It forced the police to bring to justice those responsible for her harassment.

Once again, media attention has stirred the police into some semblance of action.  Kim and Nicole's criminal harasser may yet be brought to trial.

Douglas and her lawyers took legal recourse in order to expose the bullying tactics of the original CJC panel for what they were: unvarnished misogyny.

Last word: this exchange of tweets captures how women's respectability is viewed through a sexist lens and why women are challenging the double standard.

From @fortyfs' timeline, here.

Reminder: Respectability vs RESPECT: Part One.

More G20 Stories: Sexual Abuse

First, a press release from Toronto Community Mobilization Network announcing a press conference at the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre today.

The women scheduled to appear spoke to the Star.

Allegations of abuse by women detained during the G20 summit will be included in an 11-year investigation into how Toronto police investigate sexual violence against women.

The activist known as Jane Doe, women’s studies professor Beverly Bain and Toronto Rape Crisis Centre counsellor Grissel Orellana are to present their report to Toronto Police Services at 1 p.m. Thursday.

Toronto police “are unfit to conduct a review against themselves. They are not equipped to investigate themselves,” Farrah Miranda, a spokeswoman for the activist group G20 Mobilization Network, told the Star on Thursday.

That is the message Doe, the pseudonym of a woman who successfully sued police in 1986 after she was raped, and the others will deliver at their morning news conference and in their report, said Miranda.

“This is the culmination of an 11-year process. Women’s groups are connecting the G20 violence against women with the ongoing police violence against women.”

Allegations of sexual abuse first surfaced as women were being released from the Eastern Ave. detention centre during the June 26-27 weekend that brought world leaders and thousands of demonstrators to Toronto.

Among those making allegations was Amy Miller, who will present a video at the Thursday news conference, Miranda said.

Also speaking will be Alison Peters. “They asked me and other women I was with if we wanted to have sex with them,” Peters said in a news release about the police. “We were told to take our clothes off if we wanted to be taken seriously. . .”

Another detainee, Skylar Radojkovic, said police “told me that I was going to prison, where I would be raped repeatedly. I was strip-searched and called various unprintable names by these officers. The detective pushed me repeatedly into the wall.”

Doe on Tuesday criticized the final auditor’s report, also due out Thursday, into how police investigate sexual assaults. The report says Toronto police have implemented 19 of 25 recommendations on how to deal with sexual assaults.

“It's business as usual, more of the same,” Doe said. “The police are not prepared to address the sexism, racism, incompetence and their own lack of analysis.”

The Toronto Police Services Board has appointed lawyer Doug Hunt to investigate police accountability during the summit. Toronto police have asked people with allegations against them during that weekend to file a formal complaint.

Lights! Camera! Action! Cue smirking authoritarian misogyny!

ADDED: An account of the press conference.

What's the difference between a krusading berserker kop and a blak blok anarkist at the Toronto g-20?

The krusading berserker kop has "special powers" that this regulation gives him.

Other than that, they're both bullies hiding behind a black uniform, weapons of destruction, an organization and the fury they unleash upon people and property.

Their fear and loathing of the "enemy" is the fuel for their violence; the target of their rage shifts in accordance with their allegiances.

Neither is necessarily aligned with a political orientation; they're opportunists, pragmatists and followers.

They're killer ants.

Are you for us or against us?

This lovely little pallid-skinned family learned the hard way that the law a temporary regulation as enforced by police officers is a rough and blunt instrument.

It was a raid scripted straight from the cliché template of some Hollywood hack writer -
Opening: cops descend upon a crack house, break doors down, kick the residents awake, cuff them and lock them up.

Except the purpose of the warrant was to pre-emptively charge, arrest and detain community activists planning protest strategies during the G-20. That was the purported crime targeted by police.

As John Booth writes here, respect of citizens' civil rights was not on display last night.

[He]was woken at 4 am this morning to find police pointing a gun in his face. He was handcuffed and brought outside. Thirty minutes later police apologize to him. Booth is the upstairs neighbour of some G20 protesters, but he lives in a separate unit with his wife and six month old child.

“You hear all this stuff in the news about this one billion dollars' worth of security which is supposed to protect the public - well I am a great example of an innocent by-stander who has been violated despite this very claim. And this is allegedly our tax payers dollars at work.”

What did Stevie Spiteful purchase with the 1,100,000,000. dollars he spent on G-20 and G-8 public government security. A whole lot of weapons, fences, overtime, contracted-out services.

Not much in the way of serving and protecting the public, and very little in the way of skills, competence and discernment.

The difference between inflammatory and defamatory.

The Toronto Police union is calling for Sid Ryan to resign after the labour leader suggested police may plant agent provocateurs among the G20 protesters to incite violence. “It’s a totally irresponsible, inflammatory and idiotic thing to say for someone in his position. Nothing could be further from the truth,” said Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto Police Association. “It’s a total insult to police everywhere.”

At a Wednesday news conference for the “People First!” rally, Ryan said he had concerns the police would use disguised agents to cause chaos in order to provoke a violent response from security forces. “They’ve done it before,” said Ryan, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour. “I’m concerned about that as a tactic to justify police presence and justify the spending of $1.3 billion on security.”

From here. Notice McCormack said inflammatory and not defamatory. An explanation for this would be, as the letter from the Council of Canadians to Harper illustrates, there is cause for such concerns.

“Three undercover police officers attempted to incite violence in 2007 at the Montebello protest against the Security and Prosperity Partnership. The proof of their actions was caught on film,” adds Barlow. “The Sûreté du Québec was forced to admit that they were police officers, dressed in black and holding rocks. Yet, to date no one has been held accountable and through his silence, Harper appears to have given tacit approval of the use of agents provocateurs.”

It was the above incident that came to mind when this occurred in Ottawa, shortly before Stevie and his bullies disclosed the billion dollars (and rising) budget anticipated for the G-8/B-20 held in Ontario, much of it dedicated to public government security.

Bad cop, bad cop.

From this blogsite: "Any time a law enforcement officer is accused of tarnishing the badge, it is an embarrassment to all the honest, hard-working members of this profession who work day in and day out to protect and serve with integrity." I discovered What Happened to Protect and Serve? when I was trying to track down earlier news items about James Talford, in regard to this:

A former member of a New York state police anti-terrorism unit has been ordered to stay away from two Canadian women he was accused of harassing.

A Buffalo City Court judge granted 45-year-old James Talford of Clarence a conditional discharge Tuesday on his guilty plea to non-criminal violation counts of harassment and disorderly conduct.

The judge also issued orders of protection to both women.

Talford was an investigator with the Buffalo office of the state police counterterrorism intelligence unit when he was arrested in late July. [His] lawyer said he retired from the state police about a month ago after 21 years with the agency.

It must have been terrifying for the women he harassed. I'm presuming that Talford said some very disturbing things that were likely recorded, in order for charges to be laid and for the case to come before a judge. He probably didn't phone to beg them to take him along the next time they indulged in a cross-border shopping spree. No. It's likely he threatened them. And when a guy who works with a state police counterterrorism intelligence unit threatens you, it's frightening. And serious.

So. Back to that blogsite. There are 62 posts with a 'death from Taser' label and an item about Inspector Steve Izzet - head of the Toronto police intelligence unit. Umm, what is it about 'intelligence units'? Is that where the dickheads get parked when none of the other units will take them? Izzet faces serious charges. According to this, a tribunal hearing was scheduled for the end of April. That was almost 6 months ago, there's been nothing in the news since then.

Teaching Old Farts New Strategies.

In spite of decades of work done by feminists and women's organizations with police, it appears that there are lessons that many cops and their administrator bosses are unwilling to learn.

A women's studies professor is criticizing police for not warning women in Edmonton about a man who allegedly sexually assaulted four women within a week after luring them on a social networking site.

"It's quite possible had they alerted women that some of these assaults could have
been prevented. The police could have warned women using social networking sites or dating sites to be specifically careful of someone doing this particular thing," Lise Gotell from the University of Alberta said Tuesday. "And it's quite possible had they alerted women that some of these assaults could have been prevented."

Edmonton police first announced Tuesday afternoon that they had arrested a 22-year-old man in relation to four assaults that allegedly took place in the Millwoods area of the city. The suspect has been charged with two counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual assault with a weapon, three counts of possession of an offensive weapon dangerous to the public, two counts of unlawful confinement and one count each of robbery and theft over $5,000.

Police allege the man contacted the women through a social networking site, developed a relationship with them over several days, lured them to a remote location, threatened and sexually assaulted them.

Note that Gotell, an award-winning prof at the University of Alberta, is first identified through her association with Women's Studies which is an interdisciplinary academic program that right-wing conservatives often attack and attempt to discredit.

In Manitoba, cold cases and historical homicides of women are to be re-investigated.

Justice Minister Dave Chomiak first told the Free Press last month that the RCMP and Winnipeg Police were dusting off the old cases. The news came shortly after 17-year-old Cherisse Houle was found dead, face down in a ditch, and Chomiak
himself wondered if a serial killer could be responsible. ...

Former Vancouver police officer turned serial-killer profiler Kim Rossmo told the Free Press that it wouldn't surprise him if a serial killer was at work in Winnipeg.
"It would be shocking to think that in a city the size of Winnipeg, that you wouldn't have one or more serial killers preying on prostitutes over a 30-year period," Rossmo said.

Do cops become so hardened by their obligation to view prostitutes as criminals, rather than human beings - a consideration always generously awarded to their clients who are offered an opportunity to bypass criminal charges by enrolling in "John School" - that when women are butchered, they shrug it off? Don't they care that these are someone's daughter, sister, mother? And is the fact that many of them are Aboriginal women lead to a somewhat desultory investigation of their murders?

If there are other versions of Willy Pickton (and his suspected accomplices at the pig farm, who have somehow escaped criminal charges) who are stalking and killing women in Manitoba, the police don't appear very committed to finding him to stop his campaign of murder and terror.