Montreal Police Lose Public Relations War

As the Fredy Villanueva saga drones on interminably, it's clear that the Montreal police have taken a public relations beating, a self-inflicted wound for which they have nobody but themselves to blame.

It has been Montreal police policy, for as long as I can remember, to clam up after an officer-related shooting incident and to offer no comment or explanation until after the investigation into the matter is completed. These investigations usually drag for months, sometimes years, leading the public to surmise that the police have something to hide.

Many years ago, I remember an incident wherein a Montreal police car was flagged down by a downtown merchant, who told the officers that he had just been robbed by a man who was running down the street. The officers gave chase and caught up with the robber on Bleury street where the suspect struggled with police while being subdued. Because of the aggressive reaction by the suspect, one of the officers drew his service revolver and in the fracas, shot the suspect, who subsequently died.
It turned out that the 'robber' was a shoplifter, nothing more serious than that.

The officer was shocked. He freely admitted that the shooting was a colossal mistake.
He told investigators that he had made a tragic error, one which he could not explain. He quickly admitted that the situation was well in hand and it was never his intention to pull the trigger. Perhaps it was a case of nerves, a hair trigger or lack of training, it was what it was.

In a rare admission of fault, the then police chief Jacques Duchesneau apologized profusely for the mistake and offered sincere regrets to the family on behalf of the police. Throughout the entire interview, he never mentioned the officer by name or offered him his support.

I knew Jacques Duchesneau quite well at the time, we worked together as members on the board directors of one of Quebec's largest volunteer organizations. I also got to know most of the senior staff of the Montreal police and have forged friendships which I still maintain.

I caught up with Jacques (I think it was at a Canadiens hockey game) soon after the incident and laced into him.

"How could you not publicly support your officer!" I berated him.
He was surprised, to say the least.

"Whadda you mean? The officer was clearly wrong. It would have been wrong not to admit it." he answered.

"Of course he was wrong, but it was a mistake and it's something he'll have to live with the rest of his life. He deserves your support. You should of said something."

"Like what?" he asked.

"You should have gone on the attack. While offering condolences to the family you should have reminded them that their son was a criminal, who rolled the dice when he decided to struggle with the arresting officers.
You needed to show support to your officer and defended him as having committed an unfortunate mistake, a mistake that would never have happened had the criminal not taken the unfortunate actions that he did. The rank and file would have appreciated your support. You shouldn't have thrown your guy under the bus, it wasn't right."

I know many of you don't agree with my assessment, but consider this. When you or I make mistake on the job, even a big one, nobody gets killed, not usually, at any rate. When an armed police officer makes a mistake, it can have tragic consequences.
When criminals set in motion a confrontation with police, there is always the possibility things can go tragically wrong, sometimes for the officer, more often for the criminal.

Fredy Villanueva died because his brother Dany decided to 'test' the officers.

It will be two years before it's determined whether the shooting was justified or a result of the actions of a panicked officer. That's too long an ordeal. At any rate it makes no difference at all to me and it shouldn't matter to you.

In the meantime it's galling to see the members Villanueva family strut around like innocent victims, even as Dany resumes his life of crime as a member of the "Bloods," a Montreal North street gang.

Many people have told me that they can't understand why the officers confronted the gang members over a trivial game of dice. They tell me that this indicates the officers were looking for trouble.

They are wrong.
The war between the police and the gangs is a battle for control of the streets, either the police own them or the criminals do. In the battle for control, the gangs don't play by the rules, but unfortunately the police have to.

One of the tried and true methods of keeping gangs off balance, is to disrupt them by rousting them at every opportunity. It's a legitimate tactic practised by all major police departments across the continent.
Stopping gangsters and conducting a physical search is a productive way to catch them in possession of illegal weapons, drugs, stolen goods or discovering those who are breaking parole conditions. Of course, the police cannot stop and search anyone, including gang members without justification. Police can't pull a car over on a whim or conduct stop and search operations without justifiable cause. It's the law.

So the police look for any valid reason to stop and search gang members.
Jaywalking. Aha!
A broken tail light. Aha!
An illegal dice game in the park. Aha!

Credit these two officers for doing their job. They observed a legal opportunity to make life miserable for the gang members and they took it. Bravo!
By the way, the criminals know the drill, they are used to being hassled by the cops and they hate it.

On this day, Dany Villanueva decided that he wasn't going to take it anymore. He decided to confront the cops.
Not a very bright idea, but these type of thugs usually have violent tempers and impaired reasoning and decision-making faculties. It is likely that it was more galling and humiliating that one of the officers was female. He lost his temper and fought back. Bad mistake....

Witnesses admit that Dany refused to cooperate and was actively resisting being put in handcuffs. Things escalated and the officers drew their weapons.
Fredy either participated in the swarming of the officers or as witnesses told the inquest, was coming to Dany's aid by yanking the officer's hand.

What happened next is an open question, a question that is decidedly beside the point, the shooting that the occurred was the direct result of the actions of Dany and his cohorts.
They rolled the dice and lost. Too bad.

The current police chief of Montreal Yvan Delorme should have gotten out in front of the story a long time ago. He should have made a public statement explaining that while the exact circumstances of the shooting are to be determined, the death of Fredy Villanueva was the direct results of the decision taken by the street thugs to resist his officers. The public would have probably accepted the argument and moved on.

The fiasco around the investigation of the shooting can be laid directly at the feet of the Montreal police who were too timid to defend their officers and too mistrusting of the public's ability to understand and empathize with the officers predicament.

RDS Unable to Accept Swiss Hockey Win Over Russia

Watching this afternoon's hockey game between Les Glorieux and the Buffalo Sabres, I was happily reminded that the Canadian junior team is back in action later this afternoon in pursuit of their sixth straight world junior championship.

As all real hockey fans already know, the team from Switzerland pulled off a humongous upset by beating the Russian team to advance to the semi-finals against the Canadians.

Too bad the Reseau de Sports Network presumed that it could never happen. Here's a graphic promoting this evenings game, shown during a first period commercial break during the Canadiens/Sabres game..... Hmmm....


For those of us old enough to remember it is reminiscent of another fine gaffe; Ha!!! Ha!!!!

Journal de Montreal Hits a New Low

The sad story of the death of five Canadians in Afghanistan weighed heavily on the hearts of all Canadians....well most Canadians anyway.

While every other major daily newspaper in Canada placed the story on page one, not so for Montreal's Journal de Montreal.

How many deaths does it take in Afghanistan to make the front page of the Journal de Montreal?

Apparently five is not enough.

What story was more important? HOCKEY + NATIONALISM

As you can see, the newspaper ran a photo montage of the four Quebeckers who were named to Canada's Olympic hockey team, alongside a larger photo montage of Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis who were left off the team much to the consternation of hand-wringing nationalists.

By the way, the story on the Afghanistan deaths was on placed page 3 with the death of the journalist as a headline.

The worst of 2009.......Happy New Year!

Here's collection of dubious crap I found on the Internet in 2009.

Let's start with the worst puff piece of the year, an article extolling the virtues Brian Mulroney and Ruby Dhalla by John Geddes in Macleans on May 12. If this article doesn't make you puke, you have a strong stomach!!

Service, sacrifice. Mulroney, Dhalla.

Two politicians in Ottawa today, one retired, the other active, provided glimpses into the unsung, selfless motivations of public servants.

Brian Mulroney, the former prime minister, testifying at the Oliphant inquiry, explained how that unfortunate business with Karlheinz Schreiber all began with Mulroney’s deeply felt desire to bring prosperity to poor Nova Scotia. “Let me tell you this,” he said, “you’re the prime minister of Canada, and you’ve got areas of your country, particularly disadvantaged areas, central or eastern Nova Scotia, where unemployment rates had frequently gone as high as 50 per cent, and somebody comes in and says, ‘I can create a modern plant with new technology, with an export dimension to it, and I can create 500 or 1,000 new jobs, with multiplier spin-offs.’ You can bet your bottom dollar that I, or any other prime minister, is interested immediately.” Ruby Dhalla, the current MP for Brampton-Springdale, laid bare the bitter irony of her facing allegations of mistreatment from two caregivers who testified earlier this morning, since they are precisely the sort of women for whom Dhalla has given so very much. “I can tell you with everything in me,” she said, “the women that spoke today, these are the same women that I have been trying to help. When you take a look at the stats on the number of women that are in Parliament today, we’re at 22 per cent, and you take a look at the number of ethnic women and then you break that down to even young women, we don’t have too many. And there is a reason for that. And every initiative that I’ve championed in my own riding—I’ve created organizations to empower women, to talk about domestic abuse… And it’s these women that I’m trying to help and have spent my whole career and sacrificed my life for. ”

arghh........
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The worst Canadian Headlines of the Year.

"Air Canada trialling inflight internet"

"Nintendo Wii sells out in North America and Canada."

"Christmas tree farmer expects pre-holiday rush."

"La Coalition pour l'incontinence demande de l'aide"

("The coalition for Incontinence asks for help")

Manitoba polar bears may woo Obama's daughters
"Lions coach a big fan of Maple Leafs growing up"

___________________________
The worst sound bite of the year. Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Quebecois giving us some valuable insight;

An interview worthy of the "Yes Prime Minister" award.

The worst French Acroynms in English

• ASSS l'Agence de la santé et des services sociaux

• CRAP - Coalition contre la répression et les abus policiers

______________________

and finally........ Things that made me laugh in 2009!!!

World's worst sports announcer!!

Interesting test answers.........

no comment.........

......and for all you people out there contemplating a New Year's resolution to lose weight.

Jared from Subway is now fat again........(sigh.......)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Dubious Distinction Quiz - 2009

Here's a reminder of some of the more dubious events and personalities of 2009. How many can you identify? There are no links or tags, so you'll have to figure it out yourself or do your own surfing.
There are 30 possible points. If you get over twenty-five on your own you can claim to be a Quebec news junkie. Twenty points is great, fifteen is a pass.
I prepared the quiz , but only scored 24, sheeesh!
Go for it.

Let's warm up with some easy ones;

1.Who is the Anglophone fraudster that made headlines after ripping off his closest friends and family?

2. Who is this convicted Francophone fraudster who finished up his Mickey Mouse jail sentence only to be charged again?






3. Who is this ex-Montreal politician who fled the political scene in disgrace after being caught taking campaign contributions from dubious sources, while arrogantly running on a cleanup campaign.






4. Who is this ex-PQ politician who ran for Mayor of Montreal against Gerald Tremblay and lost, proving that Montrealers would rather vote for a mob-controlled city hall, than a unilingual separatist.

5. Who is this ex-Montreal politician who resigned his position at City Hall ahead of a scandal that revealed he had taken a vacation aboard a yacht owned by a Montreal businessman who won a lucrative contract under his watch.

6. Who is this camera shy Montreal businessman who was at the center of at least three major scandals concerning contracts with Montreal city hall and whose companies are the subject of continuing police corruption investigations in the construction industry?

7. In early Spring Premier Charest announced that the Caisse de Depot (the custodian of the provinces pension money) had taken a massive 40 billion dollar bath in the market meltdown under the stewardship of this man, who abandoned ship before the announcement with a golden parachute of over $300,000, in hand. Who is he?

8. After stalling and delays, an inquest finally got under way concerning a tragic incident involving this teenager?

9. What is the name of this publicity hound clown who bought his way into space?

10. What is the nick name of this hideous retro hockey sweater shamelessly hawked by the Montreal Canadiens in honour of their 100^th anniversary.

11. Subject to a vicious smear campaign by Francophone nationalists and sovereignists, this man took over one of the top jobs in Quebec. Who is he?

12. What is the name of this Montreal Canadien who makes $7.5 million and plays like he should be in Hamilton?

13. Who is this famous Quebec artist that came under fire for his impassioned reading of the FLQ Manifest at the Moulin a Paroles event staged by nationalists on the Plains of Abraham this past summer?

14. Which famous Quebec singer made the news by jumping the queue and getting the H1N1 shot for himself and his family before being eligible and then lying about it, before doing a mea culpa on a French language talk-show?

15. This power couple came under fire for producing last year's infamous BYE-BYE new Year's eve show on Radio-Canada that mocked Obama for being black and Quebec paedophile victim Nathalie Simard. They held an unconvincing news conference in January to set matters straight.
Name one or the other to claim a point.
Hint..... The woman producer is the daughter of the big shot producer who went to jail for abusing Ms. Simard, which is essentially what the public found so unfunny. One point if you can name one, two for identifying both.

16. This organization and it's leader came under fire for opposing the inclusion of English artists in the annual summer national celebration. Name the organization or the man pictured to the right to claim your point, two points for both.





17. These two federal Liberal politicians fought over the right to run in the Outremont riding in Montreal, currently held by NDP pit bull Thomas Mulcair. As the fight escalated Michael Ignatieff took another serious hit to his already diminished credibility. One point if you can name either, two for identifying both.

18 . This Quebec firebrand is the head of a radical French language sovereignty group that forced the cancellation of the re-enactment of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham this summer, by hinting at a violent confrontation. Name him or the organization that he heads for one point, two for both.





19 . Gérald Gallant, a convicted murderer already serving a life sentence, turned informant and helped police arrest 10 suspects involved in various murders. Mr. Gallant stunned everyone by admitting that he was a major hit man who had fulfilled many 'contracts' on various underworld figures.
On March 31, he pleaded guilty to murdering how many people?
a 8, b. 11, c. 19, d. 20, e. 27



20. In one of the worst cases of family murder, Cathie Gauthier, a Chicoutimi resident was found guilty in October of murdering her husband and three children.
How did she manage to kill them all?

a. Drug overdose. b. House fire c. Firearm d. Drowning


21. A Quebec sports icon was convicted of perjury and given a suspended sentence in May, in relation to the trial of his out of control son who was also convicted earlier in the year resulting in a fifteen month conditional sentence on an array of charges including forcible confinement, making death threats, and assault. One point if you can name the father or the son, two for identifying both.

22. Another Quebec sports legend's son got in trouble and went to trial for an assault during a sporting match. After receiving an absolute discharge the son wisely decided to pursue a singing career. Name him or his famous father. One point if you can name the father or the son, two for identifying both.


23. Proving once again that being born rich is no guarantee of a successful life, this daughter of a famous Quebec media tycoon (deceased) found herself arrested once again in July for cocaine possession for the umpteenth time.
Hint.... You'll remember her brutal arrest at the hands of the Montreal police caught on film by a television news helicopter in 2005. One point if you can name her father, two for identifying both.



SPOILER ALERT>>>>>>> SPOILER ALERT>>>>>>>>>>SPOILER ALERT>>>>>

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ANSWERS

1. Earl Jones
2. Vincent Lacroix
3. Louise Harel
4. Benoit Labonté
5. Frank Zampino
6. Tony Accurso
7. Henri-Paul Rousseau
8. Fredy Villanueva
9. Guy Laliberté
10. Barbershop
11. Michael Sabia
12. Brian Gionta
13. Luck Merville
14. Claude Dubois
15. Veronique Cloutier & Louis Morissette
16. Claude Beaulieu & La Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste
17. Denis Coderre & Martin Cauchon
18. Patrick Bourgeois & Réseau de Résistance du Québécois (RRQ)
19. e. 27
20. a. Drug overdose.
    
21. Guy Lafleur & Mark Lafleur
22. Patrick Roy, Jonathon Roy
23. Pierre Péladeau, Anne-Marie Péladeau