It's time to take Time Out. I can't go on in this Blog without addressing a comment posted to one of my YouTube videos on Saturday. It was left in response to:
MISSISSAUGA DODGE CHARGER "302" ENFORCEMENT CAR
(Click here to go directly to the video clip --and the comments, on YouTube
No video I've posted to date has stirred up so much controversy. Oh, there was the genius "Don't you have anything better to do than film Transit Enforcement vehicles?" served up by "2619920". That dude's easy to dismiss once you investigate the quality of his videos (he has none of his own) and then check out the only three clips he posts as "Favourites".
A power-trip wank --possibly a police wanna-be who I hope will never-be.
THEN "mjm4222" HAPPENED AND I FREAKED.Comment from "mjm4222 about my "302" car video:
"mjm4222 (2 days ago)
Badly wrecked, give me a break. My dept has worse wrecks than that. You libs have nothing better to do than bash the Police for keeping you safe. We put on 200 miles plus per day per car. Of course they get into accidents. It is part of the job when driving all the time. Find something better to do like help put bad guys in jail, not bash cops!!!"
What really dinged me were the comments:
"You libs have nothing better to do than bash the Police for keeping you safe."
"Find something better to do like help put bad guys in jail, not bash cops!!!"
A coherent comment with no spelling mistakes from someone who watched the video concluding that it bashed cops. AND ending in three exclamation marks. My first thought was Good Gawd! I hope others aren't interpreting my "302" car video as bashing police.
Then I visited mjm4222's YouTube site. And I checked out some of his 72 YouTube Favourites.
With his articulate message and that list of favourites, I concluded that when "mjm4222" commented about "My dept" and "We put on 200 miles plus per day per car" that it was a police department and that he was a police officer. I couldn't stand the thought that any of my videos could be interpreted as being critical of police, let alone, "bash" them.
So I emailed "mjm4222" privately to explain --clear things up.
To: mjm4222
Sent: March 21, 2008
Read: March 21, 2008
Subject: Clearing up a misunderstanding
Message: Hi there,I'm writing this because I'm assuming that you're a police officer and I can't stand the thought that you think I bash police. Or don't support them.
I don't even want to IMAGINE living in a world with no police. It would be unliveable.
I'm offended too by a public only too quick to shoot their mouths off when police do something wrong. (And police do because they're human.) The public too often forgets all the good calls and judgements made by an entire department for months on end.
It takes courage beyond anything that I could summon to be a police officer. And you hold the Power of life and death.
I can't do what you do. But I'm grateful each day that there are people like you and your colleagues.
I'm done. Best wishes and stay safe.
"mjm4222 " wrote back and I was right. He is a police officer. From the States. And what he wrote back was so extraordinary that I want to share his emails with you. I asked and received his kind permission.
Sent: March 22, 2008
Subject: Re: Clearing up a misunderstandingMessage: Yes I am a Police Officer, and have been for 22 Yrs. If you are a supporter of the police, and my comments offended you I am sorry. I will explain why I wrote what I wrote....
Here in the Northeast, "Transit Enforcement" are normally paid Police Officers. This is like big cities like Boston & NY. Seeing a Marked Police package Charger with Transit Enforcement, I believed they were Police.
Watching the video, the way you have it set up, it appears to me that you are complaining that this expensive police car was totaled and taxpayers will split the bill. That was the impression I got from your video. We have several people in my community who watch us and overstate accidents (officers driving too fast w/o lights on, how many cars at a restaurant at a given time, etc.)
I guess I read into your video toooooooooooo much. I was also transferred to the Fleet/Motor pool division and have seen our cars (older) crashed worse and they were fixed. So your statement of a new car being totaled caught me off guard. Again, I read too much into your clip.
Thanks for your support of Law Enforcement.
It didn't surprise me that I'd get nice email back --after all, if he was "Police", they're professionals and I'd expect that. It was his "voice" in that email that charmed me. (Can't explain, but I have a kind of radar for "voice" in emails and I really liked his.) So I wrote him back to thank him and wish him and his colleagues well.
And again he wrote back. Only I wasn't prepared for the tragedy that "mjm4222" revealed.
From: mjm4222
Sent: March 22, 2008
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Clearing up a misunderstanding
Message:hi,
That would be fine if you want to use my comments. Did not know you were from up north, where I am sure things are much different than here when it comes to law enforcement. You are lucky in one aspect, crime is much lower there. We just had an officer killed here in Connecticut yesterday. Shot in the head for no reason. The unknown suspect is still on the loose. That added to my emotions yesterday.
I hope my comments help any new viewers, seeing how I did not post a response.
So I'm going to repond for "mjm4222 "
I went to Google News and searched for "Connecticut" and "Police".
Imagine how officers of the Norfolk Police Department (Connecticut) feel this Easter holiday with one of their colleagues killed on Good Friday.
I emailed the Norfolk Police Department at: tkulhawik@norwalkct.org today to express my condolescences. Then I forwarded it to "mjm4222". I'm hoping other readers here will email Norfolk PD as well. I'd like them to hear from Canada. Here's mine --maybe readers might want to use it as a template.
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 08:47:02 -0700 (PDT)
From: "MISSISSAUGA WATCH" mississauga_watch@yahoo.com
Subject: Condolence from Canada on your loss
To: tkulhawik@norwalkct.org
CC: mississauga_watch@yahoo.com
Hello from Mississauga, Ontario Canada.I'm writing to express condolence on the loss of one
of your own this Good Friday. Please express my
sympathies to Officer Morelli's family and friends.Also, please know that citizens are grateful to police
for the work they do to keep us safe.Over the weekend I had the privilege to exchange
emails with a Connecticut police officer. Just want
to end with what I wrote him."It takes courage beyond anything that I could summon
to be a police officer. And you hold the Power of life
and death.I can't do what you do. But I'm grateful each day that
there are people like you and your colleagues."With sympathy,
Ursula BennettONLY ONE LAST THING TO DORecall I'd mentioned that "mjm4222" had 72 YouTube Favourites. I'm going to play his #1 Favourite"The Beatles : Beginning to End (Original)" right here. I just added his Favourite to the MISSISSAUGAWATCH list.
Dedicated to "mjm4222"...
The Beatles : Beginning to End (Original)
(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)I'll leave you with "The 3-C's". Cooperation, Communication, Caring.
Signed,
The (IMAGINE --A City Built on Real Communication.) Mississauga Muse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It takes courage beyond anything that I could summon to be a police officer. And you hold the Power of life and death. I can't do what you do. But I'm grateful each day that there are people like you and your colleagues." (The Mississauga Muse --email to Connecticut police officer, March 21, 2008)"You are lucky in one aspect, crime is much lower there. We just had an officer killed here in Connecticut yesterday. " (Connecticut Police Officer, email March 21, 2008)
"We must employ every possible tactic to dissuade those who try to silence us with fear" ---The Mississauga News Editorial (2007-03-24)
Want (or worse, need) to learn more? Link to MISSISSAUGAWATCH.CA
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Comments (3)
Thank you for this posting.
I will be writing to this Police Dep`t to express my condolences.
It is NEVER right to condemn ALL for the actions of a few.
I have sat in TH and listened to some comments made about our entire police force because a few officers dared to stop in for a donut.
I have listened to the grumblings of some drivers "inconvenienced" by the Ride check program.
I thank ALL Police officers and their Departments for keeping us safe.
Never judge ALL by the actions of a few. That can come back to bite ya and destroy your credibility.
Posted by Mac`s Gang | March 24, 2008 3:26 PM
Posted on March 24, 2008 15:26
I really did write.
Jamie MacDonald
Williamstown,Ontario
Canada[/quote]
Posted by Mac`s Gang | March 24, 2008 6:36 PM
Posted on March 24, 2008 18:36
Now that Easter break with all the niceties it brings on blogs all over the internet world is over, let's get back to business. Now THIS is an interesting development. Now why would council want to revert back to the Ombudsman in this case? is it because now they have a real important issue that deserves a real investigation? Uuummm....
Local News
Niagara Falls Review
Home News Local News Councillors allege closed-door meeting improper
Councillors allege closed-door meeting improper
City headed toward first test of investigator powers
Posted By Corey Larocque
By COREY LAROCQUE
Review Staff Writer
Four city councillors plan to file a complaint against their colleagues for holding what they say was an “illegal” private meeting last week. It would be the city’s first experience with a new rule aimed at preventing politicians from holding improper closed-door sessions. Politicians who went to the meeting say it was above-board and the others knowingly passed it over.
“As far as I’m concerned, this was an illegal meeting,” said Coun. Janice Wing.
Wing, Carolynn Ioannoni, Shirley Fisher and Wayne Thomson say other councillors were wrong to continue an in-camera session at 1:30 a.m., last Tuesday to discuss a report they said was shelved for two weeks.
“They can’t overrule a majority vote of council to defer an in-camera item,” Ioannoni said. “It’s not the subject they were dealing with. It was the procedure they followed.”
They’re going to use a recent change to the Municipal Act to ask for an investigation of the meeting, they said Monday, a week after the incident.
But filing a complaint would be “inappropriate,” said Mayor Ted Salci because it would be abusing a legal process to undo a political decision.
A new law took effect Jan. 1, giving citizens the right to call an investigator when they believe municipal councils have improperly conducted business behind closed doors.
“It would be inappropriate to ask that meeting be investigated on that basis. It was a political matter, not a procedural matter,” Salci said.
At the Mar. 17 meeting, a personnel report appointing three senior staff members to permanent positions, was approved in a private meeting at 1:30 a.m., after councillors had been meeting for more than six hours.
The late-night private portion shouldn’t have happened at all, Ioannoni said, because the report had been deferred at an earlier closed-door meeting.
“This is so blatantly a contravention of our in-camera rules plus our procedure,” said Ioannoni.
The report was on the agenda for an earlier closed-door committee meeting that began at 6:30 p.m. Politicians are allowed to meet privately to discuss personnel matters, legal issues and property transactions.
Just before 7 p.m., Ioannoni made a motion to defer the report and that motion was approved. But politicians were scrambling to leave the committee room to get into council chambers for the meeting about to start there.
There was some confusion about when discussion on the personnel report would resume. Some thought it had been shelved for two weeks, until Mar. 31.
“The reason for the deferral was there wasn’t enough time to deal with an extremely important matter,” Thomson said.
Others thought it was on hold just until the end of the council meeting.
“The motion (at 6:30) was simply to continue our in-camera after our regular council meeting,” Coun. Victor Pietrangelo said.
The confusion is rooted in what Salci called Ioannoni’s “open-ended” motion for deferral – without specifying when to resume.
At 7 p.m., they began a regular open council meeting that went six hours.
Before council adjourned, Pietrangelo reminded Salci there was one item left over from the private session.
They went into a committee room for about 15 minutes.
Salci and four councillors stayed, giving them quorum for a meeting. They talked privately until about 1:45 a.m., then publicly approved what they had discussed privately.
They voted to make the appointments of corporate services director Ken Burden and finance director Todd Harrison permanent. Burden and Harrison had held those positions on an acting basis since last year.
A third appointment made city solicitor Ken Beaman the permanent city solicitor. Beaman had been on probation since the departure of former solicitor Karen Kelly last year.
“Everybody clearly understood there was an in-camera meeting following our regular council meeting,” said Salci, who deliberately announced a two-minute break between meetings, instead of five, to prevent politicians from leaving.
But Coun. Vince Kerrio said he regretted taking part in the late-night session, knowing others wanted to discuss the report.
“My personal feeling is I wish we hadn’t have done that because I want to accommodate everyone. The issue we were dealing with could have waited,” Kerrio said.
“Would it have changed the outcome? No. Would I have liked to accommodate my other fellow councillors? Absolutely.”
A new rule came into effect Jan. 1, in Ontario, requiring all municipalities to designate an investigator who will handle any complaints about meetings that were improperly held behind closed doors.
Niagara Falls hired Local Authority Services, a company owned by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario as its investigator.
Contracting that company requires a $600 retainer fee plus $1,200 a day when it’s called in to investigate. Some municipalities, including Fort Erie, opted to have Ontario’s ombudsman serve as their investigator at no cost to the municipality.
Ioannoni said they will make an attempt at the next meeting to switch the city’s investigator to the ombudsman from LAS before the first complaint is filed.
Fort Erie town council has already had its first experience with an investigation. In January, two town residents complained Fort Erie councillors held an education and training session privately at a conference room owned by the Peace Bridge.
Ombudsman Andre Marin’s report, however, said he was “satisfied that the reasons for going into closed session were justified.”
CREDIT: NIAGARA FALLS REVIEW
clarocque@nfreview.com
Posted by Anonymous | March 25, 2008 1:08 AM
Posted on March 25, 2008 01:08