Cops racing each other to the doughnut shop.
It sounds like the script of a comedy sketch — and if only the Calgary Police Service weren’t taking a video of an alleged cop-on-cop street race so seriously, it’d be downright funny.
It’s hard not to smile when you see two police cars at a red light, one revving in anticipation of the green — and then when the light changes, that squad car guns it, laying a little rubber to take the lead.
The finish line? A Tim Hortons.
It’s a good laugh — unless you wear a badge and the weight of responsibility that comes with being a high-ranking police officer.
Insp. Ken Thrower is one such officer, and he’s got the job of finding out just who these officers were, and why they are driving in a manner that would land a civilian motorist a fast ticket.
“I’ve got officers looking into this — we don’t know when it happened or who had that vehicle,” said Thrower.
“I can tell you, I take this very seriously. We’re going to want an explanation.”
The Calgary Police Service have no choice but to launch an internal investigation into the alleged green-light drag to a southeast Tim Hortons, because there’s no way to ignore it.
The race, of course, was caught on camera, because video cameras are everywhere — and that naturally means YouTube, and the limelight of public opinion.
“These guys are supposed to be the model of safe and responsible driving and then they go and do something like this,” wrote one uptight user on beyond.ca, where the dashcam video first caught public attention.
“If this was a citizen, he would be ticketed on the spot,”
Of course, cops may have a legitimate excuse for racing — maybe someone was uttering threats over the last cruller, or staff suspected a counterfeit Tims card.
But if the officer who did the mini-brake stand trying to beat his buddy to the counter doesn’t have an official excuse, there’s going to be trouble.
“We hold our officers to the highest level of accountability, so if there’s any breach under the police act or traffic safety act or criminal code, we’re definitely going to look at that,” said Thrower.
“We’ll take the disciplinary action that’s appropriate to whatever is done — at the very least, they’re going to have to offer an explanation.
“If this all turns out to be nothing, they’re still accountable for their actions — they’re in the public view, and I expect our police officers to be the model of how citizens should drive.”
And that, right there, is the real issue.
When police officers around the world are being captured on camera for all manner of serious infractions — beatings, shootings and generally brutal behaviour — this is about as mild as it comes.
Calgarians should actually be very relieved that a race to the doughnut shop is questionable police behaviour, because there are plenty of cities where “cop caught on camera” is reason to really cringe.
Instead of horror, Calgary gets humour.
But if there’s a lesson for Calgary’s finest, it’s that the police are now being policed.
With cameras in every phone and dashboard lenses commonplace, there’s nowhere police can go in public without being observed.
It’s not always bad news — earlier this month, a dozen Bronx cops were filmed lifting a cab off a struck-down pedestrian — but that’s the exception, rather than the rule.
The public is watching, but some police still don’t get that.
“For decades cops have had the power to create their own truth — they could arrest you, and then claim ‘this guy took a swing at me,’” said Carlos Miller, an American journalist.
“Now we have cameras and the truth is a little different from their truth — and that’s what they’re scared of.”
Miller mainly deals with brutality and attempts by U.S. police to suppress public filming, detailing his efforts on a blog, Photography is Not a Crime.
Calgary has been pretty lucky, with serious accusations few and far between.
The Tim Hortons racing video is a minor issue, but it serves as reminder that those in uniform can’t relax in public — because the public is always watching
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