Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
My son shouldn't have to fear cops, too
YOU’RE late," I called half jokingly when the front door opened. It was 9:04 p.m. My 14-year-old son, Storm, was supposed to be home at nine.
I waited for the usual barrage of comical excuses but all I got was silence -- definitely not normal. A quick glance told me he was clearly upset.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Some cops grabbed me," he said.
"What happened?" I asked, following him up the stairs to his room. I know my son. When he's upset he can barely speak. He couldn't say much but did give some details. They had just grabbed him a few minutes ago in a back lane a few blocks away. One pushed him against a fence to question him.
I was so upset I went looking for them. I ended up at the Hartford Street station and spoke to the first policeman I saw; sitting in the supervisor's car just outside the station.
He was nice enough when I told him what happened and wrote down some details. He said he'd call me. Then I went home and took "Storm's statement."
Storm was walking down a back lane with two friends to one of their houses. A silver car pulled up in front of them.
"Where are you going," one guy asked them.
"My friend's house," they said.
"Why?" Storm asked.
"We're cops," they said.
They got out and opened their jackets to show off their guns. One officer went over to my son. He was blond, dressed in street clothes and a dark blue jacket.
"He turned me around, pushed me against a fence and started to pat me down. He lifted up my sweater and said, 'Do you have any weapons?'"
Storm told him no and turned around.
"What was that for?" he asked. The officer told him there'd been some break and enters in the area.
Storm's other friend was talking to the other officer. The third kid had gone into another friends' house -- their destination -- just before the unmarked car pulled up. His mom came out and asked the officers what was going on.
"Do you know these boys?"
She told them yes, they were her son's friends.
The cop asked Storm how old he was. He told him -- 14.
"Aren't you a little tall?" said the cop.
He asked where he lived and he told him.
"Are you breaching?" the cop asked.
"I don't live in a group home," Storm said.
He wrote in a notebook and they drove away.
The supervisor called me back. He said he hadn't found out anything since the details were "vague."
I told him again I wanted to speak to the officers that dealt with my son.
Then he asked to speak to Storm. I guess it had something to do with me saying my son considered being a cop but this had upset him. Storm grudgingly took the phone. Storm said the supervisor apologized and hoped he didn't have any hard feelings towards the police after this.
I've decided to file a complaint anyway. This isn't an isolated incident.
Police shouldn't be grabbing kids in back lanes and pushing them against fences. They shouldn't be searching them and treating them like they're already guilty of a crime.
Not every brown kid in dark clothes is a criminal. To treat them all like that is racial profiling.
My son didn't do anything wrong. He doesn't need to be harassed by people I've taught him to respect and trust.
He's aboriginal, he's young, and he wears dark clothes because wearing certain colours in this neighbourhood is just asking for trouble. Should we move? Trust me, I've been thinking about it.
Storm has to watch out for gangsters all the time, and now he has to worry about the police, too.
I still want to meet those two officers and talk to them in person. I want them to know the damage they're doing. Maybe then they'll understand.
Colleen Simard is the publisher of Urban NDN.
colleen.simard@gmail.com
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 23, 2009 A18
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