WATERLOO REGIONAL POLICE SERVICE IN THE S*** AGAIN

What an outfit! Does the WRPS think that their actions, mistakes and or even perceptions of same don't reflect badly upon Regional politicians? Afterall who's in charge here? Is the dog (Regional gov't) wagging the tail (WRPS) or is it the other way around?

There's a tidbit of good news here and that is that this time it doesn't appear to be an individual officer or officers exhibiting human foibles, that have fallen off the rails so to speak. The bad news is that this latest embarassing problem probably goes right to the top. Can you believe that criminally charging a very well known, long term defence lawyer came from the lower ranks? Hal Mattson was charged with Obstruction of Justice two years ago. He is suing over his arrest and 3 1/2 hours he spent in custody.

Over the last several years a local lawyer by the name of Davin Charney has fairly regularily embarassed the WRPS by suing them, often in small claims court, over false arrests and similar offences. While I don't believe that he has a 100% sucess rate nevertheless he has done amazingly and embarassingly well. Now we have a 28 year veteran of the courts being arrested in public at Tim Horton's across from the Provincial Courthouse. One of Mr. Mattson's allegations is that Regional police "Used "grossly excessive" force during the arrest in a public place." I do not know if this refers to handcuffs or an actual physical "takedown". I do know having met and seen Mr. Mattson that he is not a young man any longer and that he is not built like a professional wrestler or boxer. I sincerely hope for everyone's sake that the arresting officers did not unecessarily use physical force. Quite frankly even handcuffs are ridiculous in the majority of arrests of non violent accused persons.

I have a serious suggestion for the WRPS and Regional Government. Up here in Elmira our local favourite disgusting polluter has hired the services of a public relations firm called the Sussex Group. Most especially if regional government are unable or unwilling to properly control even the appearance of malicious charges (as yet unproven) by senior police; then at the very least have professionals available to put spin on the inevitable fallout. This is a case that I hope is widely publicized and I personally hope to attend court to find out IF petty individuals within the WRPS have abused their authority and power. The article is in today's Waterloo Region Record titled "Lawyer suing police for $5.5M ".