Montreal Police Harass Entire Black Community

Yesterday I discussed racial profiling as a preface to this story which will examine the Montreal Police force's all-out organized assault on the city's Black community.

Sadly, the Montreal police have undertaken a well-organized and sophisticated program of harassment or 'rousting', in an ill-conceived attempt of control and to reduce the perceived elevated crime rate that plagues the Black community.
The tactic of 'rousting' is not new, it has been in the police arsenal as long as there has been organized crime.
It is a method whereby the police keep street gangs and mobsters off-balance by subjecting them to an extreme form harassment, based on enforcing the most minor of offences in the most draconian fashion, with the goal of making the targets' life as miserable as possible.

An example of rousting is inspecting a mob-controlled business, over and over again, looking for code infractions that could shut the establishment down.
Rousting is stopping a known criminal in his car for the proverbial broken tail light, failing to signal or some other minor infraction and then subjecting him to a lengthy search.
Rousting is the act of ticketing a known target for such minor offences that includes jaywalking, loitering or playing dice in public. The stop is then justification for a body search and a chance to hold the suspect while a verification is made in relation to outstanding warrants.

In short, 'rousting' is any legal device that justifies police stopping targeted individuals or groups, where the goal is not to enforce the law, but rather to harass the target.

All this is done by police to impose authority and to make criminals fearful of conducting business in the open.
If you're wondering, it's all quite legal and yes, it is effective. As long as a criminal knows that they may be stopped and searched at any moment, they tend to leave contraband and weapons off their person. It definitely crimps their style and it also impresses upon targets that the streets belong to the police, not the criminals.

Fredy and Dany Villanueva flash "Bloods'" gang signs

One police officer told me that it is a favourite practice to humiliate gang leaders in front of girlfriends and underlings and sometimes even the target's mother. In a hierarchical group like a street gang, this humiliation by the police is particularly effective in undermining gang authority.

An episode of 'rousting' can explain the infamous confrontation between police and the Villanueva brothers, in 2008, when a routine stop led to Fredy's death.
The police, who knew Dany as a serious gang member, used the minor infraction of playing dice in public, to do a stop and search. The pretext of the minor infraction was used as a justification to search him for drugs, guns or other contraband.
It's likely that Dany became furious at being rousted once again, it certainly wasn't the first time he had been stopped and searched on a flimsy excuse. When he lost his temper and approached police aggressively, a not so simple intervention over a tiny dice game escalated to gunfire and death.

Most of us don't have an objection to police harassing known criminals in this manner. Criminals expect it and deal with it as an occupational hazard.
By the way, while police would never admit it, the death of Fredy Villanueva during a routine rousting has actually had a salutary effect on other criminals who take note that it's dangerous to confront the police. Better to submit.

Now what happens when rousting is applied, not to criminals, but a specific community, is a completely different story. Criminals expect to be rousted, not law-abiding citizens.
I can only imagine  my rage if a police officer stopped me for something stupid like crossing a street in the middle of the block and then proceeded to ticket and search me while running my name for outstanding warrants. If it happened on more than one occasion, I'd really be pissed.

Do I exaggerate?
Just last night, the local CBC television station ran a news story whereby it reported that Black people were ticketed for jaywalking after a benefit concert for a slain Black Montreal rapper.

And so ......plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

Why the Montreal police have decided to apply rousting methods to the Black community has never been explained, because of course, the police deny doing it.
But evidence is piled high to the contrary. There's hardly a black youth that hasn't been stopped for no good reason, regardless whether he's a criminal or an honour student.  Read this and this.

From thieves to high school teachers, from drug dealers to university graduates, nobody in the Black community is immune to being stopped searched, ticketed and arrested for no other reason than they are Black.

So what is the effect? What would you imagine?
Do the police naively assume that the Black community will become more law-abiding?

Perhaps the criminal elements in the Black community will, but what about the majority of innocents who are taught from a tender age that being Black means being targeted by the forces of order.

It's hard to quantify, but there has to be a huge negative effect. You cannot treat a segment of society unfairly and ask them to become good citizens.
How many blacks have given up on the straight and narrow, because of this harassment, is not known.

I'd like to tell you about an episode of FRONTLINE that I watched on PBS, having nothing to do with Blacks or racial profiling, but very apropos.

KILL/CAPTURE  discussed the efficacy of targeted killings and 'night raids' in Afghanistan and whether the tactic contributed to the lessening of violence.

The part that interested me was the description of 'Night Raids" a tactic by the American army  meant  to capture Taliban members hiding out in villages.
The army swoops down by helicopter in the middle of the night and rousts the whole village. Everyone is woken up, driven out of their homes in their night clothes and then subjected to a detailed and humiliating search. Anybody remotely suspicious is bundled into the waiting helicopter to be flown to headquarters for an interrogation.

If it doesn't sound so bad to you, apply the scenario to your street or apartment building and imagine the police banging on your door and forcing you and your family out of your bed at gunpoint. The whole neighbourhood stands around the street in pyjamas with soldiers pointing guns, for an hour or two. Meanwhile the soldiers are going through your house, room by room, searching every nook and cranny for whatever. Hmmm....

Of course the vast majority of the villagers are innocents and are furious at the imposition and humiliation.
The elders complain to the Americans that the Taliban treats them better and with more respect.
Some villagers are actually driven to actually join the Taliban!

In trying to win the war for the hearts and minds of the people, can this strategy of rousting possibly work?

The producers of the show concluded that rousting has a negative effect on security. For every Taliban member that is caught using rousting, more join the enemy ranks because of it!

Watch a small part of the show examining these type of raids and the effect. If you haven't got the eleven minutes to devote to the video, start at the 6:00 mark to view the sad legacy of rousting.

                                 Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

I think there is a lesson  to be drawn, even if we in Montreal are not in Afghanistan.
Rousting is counter-productive.

It's time for the police to extend an olive branch to the Black and minority communities of Montreal. Another track must be found to attack crime, one that doesn't terrorize innocent citizens.

Will it happen?
Sadly, probably not.

Montreal Police Go Beyond Racial Profiling

Last week the Quebec Human Right Commission took the Montreal Police force to task for being guilty of racial profiling in relation to the treatment of Montreal's ethnics, especially the Black community. The report made 93 specific recommendations to eliminate the problem. Link 
While the story made the front page news, there were no surprises, the police themselves admit to the practice and every time the issue flares up, the higher echelons of the force, fob off the public with platitudes and promises to do better, followed by no remedial action whatsoever.

I've written about it before and caught some flak when I entitled my blog piece, Canada's Most Racist Police Force, which you can read to get a sense of how deep the problem is.
I take the Human Rights Commission report as a measure of vindication.

But there's a lot more than racial profiling going on in the Montreal Police and it's a problem that is much, much, more sinister than what is being reported.

For years, I enjoyed a close relationship with the highest members of the Montreal Police, including the chief and his assistant directors. I wasn't a cop but enjoyed the freedom to explore certain aspects of the department operations when I was asked to offer a consulting opinion on several logistical aspects of the way the force was run. I spoke freely, with captains and lieutenants, discussing their work and got to know many of them personally at golf tournaments or through the charity work that many senior members of the force engage in.
I generally like the men and women who serve and can say that they honestly do the best they can, subject to the constraints placed upon them by union demands and budgetary constraints.

But at all levels of the department, there's a sense of "Us versus them" and I'm not talking about criminals versus police. There is a persecution complex that is part of the department culture, a shared belief that the public, the press and the politicians are against them.

When senior management is called to task by outside forces, there is an automatic reaction that moves to deflect or neutralize the perceived attack. And so the report by the Human Rights Commission will likely be 'handled' with little serious effort applied to redress any problem.
It's the way of the police, in Montreal anyway.

The reason the Montreal police resist change is because they believe their methods work, which is why they are loathe to give up racial profiling.

Profiling versus Racial Profiling
First let's be clear about what legitimate and illegitimate profiling is.
We've all watched cop shows where the use of a 'Profiler,' is enlisted to help catch that ever elusive serial killer. This criminologist makes predictions as to who that killer may be based on scientific methods and experience. The profiler, might instruct the police that the murderer is likely to be a white male, between twenty and forty years old and someone who lives alone. We've all heard the pitch.
That is profiling, making assumptions in lieu of hard evidence.
 
When short of hard facts, we all engage in a sort of profiling, making assumptions about people based on our own experience and preconceptions.
We see a skateboarder in  punk dress rolling down the street and we comfortably assume his musical taste doesn't include Anne Murray. That's profiling.

Police rely on profiling of this type to apply the law every day.
A man going into a bank on a hot July afternoon, wearing a heavy overcoat immediately attracts the attention of a passing police officer.
A teenager of tender age, at the wheel of a $100,000 Mercedes, late at night, is stopped by police to verify if the youth is on a joy ride.
Even though police have no specific knowledge that any crime is in progress or is being contemplated, most of us would support an intervention based on this type of profiling.

But RACIAL PROFILING is a horse of a different colour. It makes assumptions based on race, not on the unfolding scenario.
A good example is that of a black man being pulled over because he is driving an expensive car. The police assume that there is a high probability that the man is carrying drugs or otherwise involved in crime, because experience has taught them that few black people other than criminals can afford to drive such a car.
The Montreal police freely admit to profiling based on race and justify their actions by claiming that it cuts down crime.
While that may be true, most of us don't accept racial profiling as a justifiable police method.
Obviously if police could do whatever they want, crime would go down.  If they didn't need judicial authority for a search warrant or a wiretap, or were allowed to stop, detain and search people at will, we might very likely have a lower crime rate, but at a cost to our liberty.
Reasonable people agree that reducing crime in this way is not worth giving up our personal freedom and expectation of privacy, so we put constraints on how and when the police may intervene. Racial profiling as a police tool, has long been consigned to the trash heap of history, at least officially.

While the Human Rights Commission complains about racial profiling, they touch on, but fail to address a more sinister problem in the Montreal Police department. The police have embarked on a dark campaign of intimidation and harassment of the entire Black community, based on the wrong-headed notion that by keeping the community on edge, off balance and in fear of the police, crime will somehow go down.

It is called 'ROUSTING," something that I learned about in my interaction with the force.

Rousting is a campaign of deliberate and highly directed intimidation and harassment, directed at known criminal elements. It goes way beyond racial profiling. It is legal and effective, but sometimes dangerous. When wrongly applied to a community as a whole, it can have devastating consequences.

Tomorrows post will detail how the Montreal Police have engaged in this organized and egregious attack on the Black community and we'll draw a lesson about the effects of such a policy in the unlikeliest of places- Afghanistan!

Montreal Police Embarass Themselves

On balance it's been a good year for the Montreal police. The force's numerous investigations successfully scored a record amount of arrests in relation to organized crime. At one point, this summer, jails were literally overflowing with newly arrested prisoners.

The year also saw a record low number of police-related deaths and almost no controversies as compared to last year's fiasco crowned by the death of Fredy Villanueva .

The only glaring weakness remains the riot squad, which continues to be an embarrassment for the force and the city itself. Time after time, small disturbances turn into ugly riots because of the lack of planning and execution on the part of the police.

It seems that they've learned nothing from the earlier failures in Montreal North and the Hockey riots that occur on what seems like an annual basis.

On Tuesday they once again demonstrated poor planning by allowing demonstrators to disrupt the arrival of Prince Charles to a downtown armoury where he was scheduled to attend a ceremony to present new colours to the the Black watch Regiment.

The armoury is located on Bleury Street which leads to the downtown core. It's a busy and accessible street, but the block on which the Black Watch building sits is rather compact. It would have been incredibly easy to set up barriers at each end of the street and keep demonstrators away at a safe distance. Had police blocked access to the street a couple of hours in advance the whole affair would have unfolded differently.
It would have required just two or three police cars as well as some DO NOT CROSS barriers. It's not as if they can't do it or lack experience. At the conclusion of events at the Bell Centre all the streets adjacent to the arena are blocked by police to allow the building to be evacuated quickly. The same should have been done for the tiny block where the Black Watch building sits.


Instead the police stupidly allowed demonstrators to congregate directly in front of the doors of the building and when the police finally decided to clear the immediate area, the protesters held a sit-in which made things more difficult.
I'm not saying protesters shouldn't have the right to demonstrate, they should. But allowing them to butt right up to the building isn't wise.

A little planning would have averted all this. It's not as if the police were surprised, the demonstrators announced their intentions well in advance. The riot squad would never have had to be brought in had police engaged in a little preventative action.

The only reason that things didn't get ugly was the fact that the demonstrators were true to their word and other than tossing a few eggs, never became really violent or aggressive.

Much as I dislike the demonstrator's politics, they are to be commended for their conduct.

Montreal Police Add New Weapon

No it isn't a crime fighting tool, just another device that will be used to give out more tickets.

Be warned, no more driving around with expired tags or unpaid tickets.

A high speed camera is placed on the trunk of a police car facing oncoming traffic. The camera scans license plates as cars drive by. The numbers are instantly run through the police computer and faster than you can say "Who me?" another police car down the road pulls over those who license plates are flagged.

How effective is it. Pretty damn effective, that's for sure.

Police place the camera at certain strategic choke points, like highway exits.
A recent operation was carried out on the road leading up to the Jacques Cartier bridge at rush hour.

Cars were pulled over at a rate of one every 30 seconds!

Better pay those tickets and registration fees!

Why Earl Jones Got $30,000 Bail.

Those affected by the Earl Jones scam are scratching their heads in frustration in light of Earl Jones' $30K bail and his quick exit from jail.

Sources close to the investigation shed a somewhat different light than what you are reading in the newspapers.

As soon as Earl Jones had his investment scheme blow up on him, he knew that the jig was up. He could of flown the coop, but instead went to see his lawyer, Jeffrey Boro at the Place D'Armes office near the Montreal courthouse.

Mr. Boro informed the police as to Mr. Jones whereabouts, but there was no arrest warrant issued because prosecutors had not developed a case. During this time Mr. Jones travelled to the States to visit his daughter with the full knowledge of the police.

Mr Jones made several visits to his lawyers office during the three weeks when he was supposedly on the lam.

During this whole time, the police (and Earl's family) knew exactly where he was. That is why there was no manhunt and no comment from police concerning his whereabouts. Those who felt police weren't doing much to search for Jones can now understand why.

The investigation was hampered by the key member on the law enforcement side being unavailable for over a week (out of town).

At any rate these investigations usually take months to complete before charges are ever laid.

But as the public pressure mounted, the situation became untenable and even the police themselves, not wishing to appear inept, demanded that the crown go forward with charges even if a case hadn't be made as yet, so they could make the arrest.

Mr. Boro wrung several concessions from the police, including the one where Mr. Jones would be arrested in his law offices, instead of on the street. This actually suited the cops and they made the arrest dressed in their Sunday best, secure in the knowledge that their picture would appear in every newspaper in Canada.

Because there was never any question of flight and Mr. Boro delivered Earl as promised, prosecutors could not in good faith oppose bail, in fact the amount and the conditions were negotiated beforehand.
It wasn't magic that the $30,000 bail money was ready and waiting in court and Earl was out the door in a matter of minutes.

The rushed charges against Earl will be followed up with more charges once the complete investigation wraps up. That won't be before the next appearance in court where prosecutor's will be forced to seek another delay. But that may not happen at all, with the more likely possibility that Earl will take a plea.

It was clear from Mr. Boro's comportment that Earl won't be mounting much of a defence.
I don't think I've ever heard a defence lawyer state that it was time for his client to ' face the music' before charges were even laid!

Mr. Boro has stated on more than one occasion that Earl is in a precarious state of mind. This fact is absolutely true. Sources who know, say that he is completely freaked out and dangerously unbalanced.

His rough treatment at the courthouse, as he was bustled into a waiting car couldn't help that situation.

We are headed towards a guilty plea with no trial.

Earl has no desire to face his accusers. His consternation is real.

I also believe that prosecutors will not not accord the usual courtesy of a reduced sentence for the plea, he may get between eight and fourteen years, but alas, will probably be out in under three years.

It seems that for once the justice system is bending to public pressure as evidenced by the hurried and incomplete way charges were laid by prosecutors.

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Interesting Montreal Police Stats

Leafing through the 2008 annual report published by the Montreal Police department provided these nuggets of information;

• Montrealers made over 1 million 911 calls.
  

• The police answered 37 thousand alarms, of which 94% were false, resulting in over $2 million in fines.

• 23 shots were fired by police officers, 8 of them in one incident by a deranged officer shooting up a gym and 6 in the Freddy Villanueva affair.

• All 8 bombs handled by police were diffused with no explosions. In 2001 there were to 24 incidents.

• Police used pepper spray 68 times, shot rubber bullet 25 times, used tear gas 4 times, expandable baton (beat stick) 38 times and fired their tasers 22 times. Al incidents were deemed justified.

• There were 96 car chases resulting in 3 suspects and 3 civilians being injured. There were no deaths. 21 police and 9 civilian cars were smashed as a result.

• There were 650 complaints by citizens against 983 police officers, but only 5 officers were called before the disciplinary board.

• 115 officers were were the subject of an internal police investigation file, resulting in a total of just 12 days of suspensions and 16 reprimands.

• Internal Affairs opened just 5 files resulting in just one resignation and no firings, but they did suspend officers for a total of 167 days.

• The average police car lasts about 5 years and drives about 150,000 kilometers. The service burns 4½ million liters of gas a year.

• The police force consists of 4,600 officers. For every 32 men, there are 13 women officers.

• 2,000 people were arrested for DUI.

• The police issued 315,000 tickets for moving violations, 150,000 for speeding and 145,000 parking tickets.

• The Green Onions gave out over 1 million parking tickets.
  

• Police investigated 29 murders, 29 attempted murders, over 1,000 sexual assaults and 6,000 robberies.

• Police investigated 1,000 arsons, 15,000 B&Es, 10,000 car thefts, 42,000 thefts, 14,000 mischief complaints and 5,000 frauds.

• Police made over 500 prostitution arrests and almost 3,000 drug arrests.
  

....interesting

Quebec Photo Radar Starts Today- Another Cash Grab

Notwithstanding Quebec Transport Minister Julie Boulet's promise that photo radar will not be used as a cash grab, don't hold your breath.
According to her announcement, photo radar will only be used as a deterrent for specific 'problem' areas with the public well-informed as to the where and when.
It seems like a reasonable enough explanation and one hard to detract, but do you honestly believe that the government is going to buy all this expensive equipment and not use it to make money? If saving lives is the rationale, then the money would be better spent by hiring more doctors and nurses.

Mindful of the uproar that the introduction of photo radar caused in Ontario a decade ago (the project had to be withdrawn), sugar-coating photo-radar's introduction is a good idea. For the first couple of months, only warnings will be issued. Once we get used to it, photo-radar will rapidly propagate and become an important revenue stream. Within a year or two they'll be placing cameras on the most lucrative spots with an eye to getting the biggest cash return.

Can I buy a franchise?

Why do I not believe that photo-radar isn't a cash grab?
Well, here in Montreal we just went through the same story in regard to radar traps. The city claimed that speeds had to be brought down because of the elevated danger to pedestrians and so a special police traffic detail was created and 130 officers added to widely expand the use of radar traps.

So how did police implement the plan? Did they go to dangerous intersections that had a history of accidents? Did they set up in front of schools, hospitals or where pedestrian traffic is particularly heavy?
Nope, they set up operations in places where they could give out the most tickets in the shortest amount of time. Pedestrian safety is not a criterion in selecting where traps are placed and in fact most of these spots are not dangerous in the least.
It's true.
I asked the cop who was writing me up, why he set up on such lonely stretch of road that wasn't dangerous at all and he wasn't shy to tell me that the goal of the police is to give out as many tickets as possible. Period. He called it deterrence.

Some of these speed traps are on deserted roads, devoid of pedestrians, such as in the Cavendish underpass in St. Laurent where police use the bridge as a sight barrier and nail people as they come up the hill.
The Autoroute 40 service road (at Place Vertu) doesn't see 10 pedestrians a day walking on it's sidewalk, yet the police set up on it on an ongoing basis strictly because of it's profitability.

The stupidest radar trap of all is on Decarie Boulevard service road near Jean Talon, which I've already written about. This one is of particular interest because the police actually represent a public danger as they run out into traffic, across three lanes to nab drivers who haven't slowed down fast enough when coming off the Decarie Expressway. All three lanes of traffic come screeching to a halt as the police officer leads the offender across the traffic to the curb. All this in the interest of traffic safety!
It's clear that Montreal Police radar traps have everything to do with revenue production and nothing to do with safety, so why will photo-radar be different?

Now let's get back to the stated rationale behind photo radar, the desire to get road speeds down. Every day we are reminded that speed kills, but it's actually not true.

The notion that going ten or twenty clicks over the speed limit is inherently dangerous is patently untrue. Please note that I differentiate between speeding and dangerous driving (where drivers go forty, fifty and more over the speed limit), which does represent a danger to everyone.

But, believe or not, speeding as the primary cause of road accidents, is towards the very bottom of the list.
In Germany the Autobahn has no speed limit, yet it records less accidents and fatalities per capita, than our provincial Autoroute system.

Statistics can be made to prove almost anything, and officials make the case, that excess speed is a large factor in car crashes. They remind us that in 30% of crashes, drivers are speeding.

It's like saying that in 50% of accidents the driver is listening to the radio and ergo radios should be removed from cars.
The fact is, that 30% of drivers are always speeding, so that it's quite likely that when accidents happen, 30% of the drivers were speeding.

Here is a list of the principle reasons for car accidents.

Unknown 18.7%
Failure to yield 18.1%
Loss of control 14.0%
Tailgating 12.6%
Driving too fast for road conditions 12.6%
Improper turn 7.9%
Disregarding signage or lights 6.0%
Improper lane change 5.6%
Improper passing 2.3%
Speeding 1.9%
Driving the in the wrong direction 0.2%
Driving too slowly 0.1%
Total 100.0%

As you can see speeding is towards the end of the list and represents less than 2% of the primary reason for car accidents. I bet you didn't know that!
People who speed are generally skilled drivers and represent less of a risk than your average grandpa driving below the limit.
In fact tired or distracted drivers represent a risk that is ten times more dangerous than speeders. Perhaps the government should force every driver to have a cup of coffee before getting behind the wheel, it'll save more lives than ticketing speeders!

Over the last thirty years, the number of people killed on the road has been cut in half. In Montreal, there was a thirty percent drop in traffic deaths between 2006 and 2007, so why the big hullabaloo.

Even if we believe the police that all this effort will save lives, the question is-how many?
In Montreal 24 pedestrians died in traffic accidents last year. Over half of them, according to police were breaking the law and themselves responsible for the accident. Every year, despite precautions there are couple of deaths related to snow clearing operations which have nothing to do with speeding.
That leaves about six or seven deaths in Montreal, to account for. How many were related to speeding?
Perhaps one, maybe two, maybe none.
Consider that number when you listen to politicians telling you that there is speeding crisis that photo-radar needs to address.

HUMBUG!!!

Dangerous Radar Trap Framed by Idiotic Billboard

The implementation of a radar trap at Decarie and Jean Talon, in Montreal, is so dangerous that it belies any pretense by the police that they are acting to promote safety. It's strictly a cash grab.

Parked four lanes over, the police nab 'speeders', who are exiting the Decarie Expressway, going up the ramp leading to the Decarie service road.

The problem is, that the cops are forced to dash out into the traffic, across four lanes to nab the speeder. Traffic comes to a screeching and dangerous halt as the offender is stopped and then escorted over to the shoulder. For those of you who don't know Montreal, the Decarie service road is one of the busiest arteries in Montreal and the folly of grinding traffic to a halt, to pursue a traffic ticket is dangerously stupid.

Perhaps, the city wouldn't need to raise funds in this manner, if it would stop wasting so much money.
Take for example, the idiotic billboard above the radar trap. Paid for by the city, it purpose is to remind us that Montreal is a great place to live.

Montreal's Obscene Radar Traps

Last year, with great fanfare, the mayor announced the creation of a special traffic unit of 133 officers within the Montreal police force to crack down on speeders. To hear him speak, one would surmise that Montreal faces carnage on it's streets and that road accidents are out of control.
The truth is somewhat different. Traffic deaths have plummeted over the last thirty years and in fact, Montreal's traffic record boasts the second lowest number of fatalities per 100,000 residents (Toronto is first), as compared to other large North American cities. Bet you didn't know that!
So why the crackdown? In a word - MONEY.
It hard to announce tax increases and so disguising a money grab by claiming a safety issue is an easy way out for the city. Montreal already boasts some of the highest parking meter rates in North America, coupled with a no top-up system that charges twice for the same time. Montrealers also pay some of the highest parking fines for expired meters and restricted parking infractions. It is telling that the most efficient department in the whole city work force are the 'Green Onions', the ticketing agents.

Let's dispel some myths about speeding itself.
City officials have bandied about the statistic that says that in 30% of accidents, drivers were speeding. It sounds ominous, but upon closer examination that fact is almost as relevant as pointing out that in 50% of accidents, drivers were listening to the radio or that in 100% of accidents, drivers were breathing. Considering our ridiculously low speed limits, a large proportion of drivers are always driving above the limit and subsequently when accidents occur, it is likely that many of them are 'speeding'. However, speeding is not relevant unless it is the cause or major contributor of the accident, which in the vast majority of cases, it is not.
Here is a list of the principle reasons for car accidents.

Unknown 18.7%
Failure to yield 18.1%
Loss of control 14.0%
Tailgating 12.6%
Driving too fast for road conditions 12.6%
Improper turn 7.9%
Disregarding signage or lights 6.0%
Improper lane change 5.6%
Improper passing 2.3%
Speeding 1.9%
Driving the in the wrong direction 0.2%
Driving too slowly 0.1%

• The biggest cause of accidents (40%) is impairment (alcohol, illegal drugs and prescription medicine.)
• Driver distraction is the second biggest cause of accidents. Eating, talking on the phone (even with a hands-free devices) drinking coffee, applying makeup and arguing with passengers are all infinitely more dangerous activities than speeding.
• More accidents happen because drivers are over-tired, than by dangerous driving or speeding.
• Tailgating is 3 times more dangerous than speeding.
• Failing to yield at a stop sign or merging into traffic unsafely is 9 times more dangerous than speeding.
  

Germany's Autobahn, the equivalent to our Autoroute system has no speed limit at all. That's right, you can go as fast as you like, yet their highway system has significantly less accidents of all types than we do here. Hmm...
Finally when the US, in an effort to curb gas consumption as a result of the Arab oil embargo, lowered the speed limit on freeways to 55 mph from 65mph, a consequential side effect of lower traffic deaths was anticipated. It did not happen. In fact highway deaths crept up. Go figger..

Now let's look at our mayor's major concern, pedestrian safety. Of the 24 people killed on Montreal streets in 2007, twelve were jaywalking and responsible for their own fate. The causes of the other 12 deaths can be attributed to all the other causes combined. While statistics are not available for the exact cause of those accidents, even using the very misleading statistic (30% of accidents have speed involved) it's likely that speeding was responsible for no more than three or four deaths.
Now every death is a personal and family tragedy, but for the mayor to get bent out of shape over speeding is disingenuous.

Finally let's not mix up speeding and dangerous driving. Travelling 20 or 30 kilometres over the speed limit on the Autoroute or 50k in a 30kph zone in the city is not a public danger, regardless of what we are told. It is something drivers know intuitively. Travelling 50 kilometres over the limit in a urban setting is dangerous driving. The problem is that ticketing those who engage in reckless and dangerous driving will not modify their behavior, just as drunks are not dissuaded by the courts not to re-offend. Unfortunately, the vast majority of tickets are issued to those drivers in the first category.

Now to the crackdown.
One would think that in an effort to reduce accidents, our police would concentrate on problem areas where excessive speeding has been a factor in accidents in the past. It would make sense.
What do our police do? They set up operations in places where they can give out the most tickets in the shortest amount of time, period. Pedestrian safety is not a criterion in selecting where enforcement traps are placed and in fact most of these locations are not dangerous in the least.
Some of these speed traps are deserted roads, devoid of pedestrians such as in the Cavendish underpass in St.Laurent where police use the bridge as a sight barrier to nail people as they come up the hill.
The Autoroute 40 service road (at Place Vertu) doesn't see 10 pedestrians a day walking on it's sidewalk, yet the police set up on it on an ongoing basis strictly because of it's profitability.
By far, the stupidest radar trap of all is on Decarie Boulevard service road near Jean Talon. This one is of particular interest because the police actually represent a public danger as they dash out into traffic, across three lanes to nab drivers who haven't de-accelerated fast enough when coming off the Decarie expressway. Cars are forced to come to a screeching halt as the police officer leads the offender across the traffic to the curb and this on one of the busiest roads in the city. All this in the interest of traffic safety!

It's clear that Montreal Police radar traps have everything to do with revenue production and nothing to do with safety.

So why will photo-radar be different?

Montreal Police Get the Respect They Deserve

Lately the Montreal Police have been complaining that they are not getting much respect from the public and have stooped to begging authorities to make the practice of insulting them illegal. If the request wasn't so sad it would be laughable. Perhaps they should be reminded of the old adage that says that respect can only be earned, not demanded.
Most large metropolitan police forces are not wildly popular, but most are respected as tough, businesslike and for the most part professional. Unfortunately our Montreal police force cannot make that claim on any level.
For several months now they have been wearing camouflage pants and red baseball caps as a pressure tactic in their ongoing labour negotiation.
If the Police brotherhood thought that the public would be so offended by the garish wardrobe that they'd demand a settlement, they must have been smoking some of the stuff that they sometimes confiscate.
Truth be told, we couldn't care less. Montrealers look upon their police as clowns and if they want to dress the part, so be it. Disrespecting their own uniform is the clearest of signals that the cops themselves have no respect for their organization.
Why should we?

Whenever I see a Montreal cop wearing camouflage, I am reminded of the burlesque, clichéd scene in the movies wherein a Mexican Federale cop stops the innocent tourist. You know, the overweight, badly groomed, sweaty cop with a toothpick hanging out of his mouth, wearing a slovenly uniform and driving an equally beat up police car.

"Señor Gringo, pleease step out of the car."

Think about the pang of fear that we whites associate with that type of a stop and now picture our very own police in camaflauge, rousting a group of blacks for committing the dangerous crime of shooting dice. There's little doubt that had the group been white and in an east end park, the cops wouldn't even have gotten out of the car. At worst they'd have rolled down the car window and shouted at the group to beat it.

Yes there is crime in Montreal North and yes blacks are involved, but it doesn't mean that every black is a criminal and should be treated as such.
It is a fact that our police stop and harass black people at an inordinate and unacceptable rate. It's sad that black mothers must school their children in how to behave when stopped by police. Did your mother do that?

Looking 'suspicious' is enough probable cause for our boys in camouflage when you are black. Ask the two Montreal Alouettes, defensive-end Alain Kashama and cornerback Mark Estelle, who were driving one evening on Notre Dame St. when they were stopped for allegedly failing to use a turn signal. Of course, the situation escalated when the two men furiously objected to the frivolous stop based on their colour. Does it sound disturbing familiar to the Villanueva tragedy?

I ask myself when I was last stopped for failing to make a signal?.....Never.
I've driven the city street for forty years and cannot recall one time having been stopped for no good reason by the police.

The Montreal Police will not earn public respect until they start acting in a professional and dignified manner and by treating all citizens equally, regardless of ethnicity, language or colour.
It's as simple as that and no legislation is going to change it.
The Montreal Police force's treatment of blacks and ethnics is not the only reason they are widely disrespected, but it is the most egregious.

Montreal Cops Demand Respect

After having their demand that the public be fined for insulting police, laughed off by the media and practically every civic group, police brotherhood spokesman hinted that we may see a change in tactics.
"If we won't be respected, we won't be ignored"
It seems that their camouflage pants campaign hasn't had the desired effect of getting the public to respect them more, so it seems that the union will be ramping up the pressure.
After showing off the next level of protest dress, there were suitable oohs and aahs from the invited media.
Commented one overly refreshed reporter, "Boy, when the one on the left tells me to shove it, I'm certainly going to obey!"