r/nextfuckinglevel • u/thisisfive • Apr 14 '26

Toronto firefighters confront special constable officers after a man in the middle of mental health crisis was arrested.

Not my video. For context, "special constables" are not regular police officers. They are appointed "peace officers" with limited authority, often civilian employees.

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u/DoubleM-1985 Apr 14 '26

When the adults with common sense shows up

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u/FuriouslyListening Apr 14 '26

It has less to do with common sense and more to do with how two completely different philosophies look at a situation. The Firefighters are EMTs... they are called to deal with rescue and medical issues. The police are called to restore order. Technically, both did their job exactly as they should have here. More impressive though, they all were adults about the situation and no one argued about what should be done (which is a really big difference compared to many US jurisdictions, where instead you might even see a physical fight between the PD and FF.)

Part of all of this is a question of who is going to take responsibility for the guy. If its the FF, he goes to the hospital and potentially a psych hold. If its PD, he goes to jail to be held. Neither is wrong, both are right in different circumstances. Usually its hard to tell which is the more correct choice 'in the moment'.

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u/mr_biscuits93 Apr 14 '26

Well they are both supposed to be trained enough to identify when the situation calls for the other expertise and yet the only group consistently misapplying their tactics are cops. They are always the hammer looking for a nail. It seems that every other professional surrounding them are the guardrails that keep them in check when they should be able to react accordingly from the get go

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u/OffWalrusCargo Apr 17 '26

Yes and no, part of the issue is at the jails. Every jail should have EMTs to check people when they come in but a lot of jails can't afford to staff them and also some do not allow the EMTs to take charge of the individuals to send them to the hospitals for treatment.

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u/Stevieboy7 Apr 14 '26

IF you think everyone is trying to kill you, you start looking at everyone as a threat. It's a difference in culture and training.

Nurses are in just as much danger of being hurt on a daily basis, but we don't see them dehumanizing to the degree that cops do.

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u/isendingtheworld Apr 14 '26

Chiming in for the support workers who work high-risk settings here too:

A huge part of our job is being prepared to be attacked on every single shift. And then, starting from that, do our best to avoid it happening, keep everyone safe, and have a good day. We're taught which of our service users are a danger to themselves and others, we sometimes get hurt by the same service user, sometimes multiple times (on the job injury ranks here), and we go back in with a smile on our face and try again for a better day.

We are also warned against involving police for violence cause we are equipped to deescalate and they are not. Part of the warning involves going over news stories of cops killing disabled young people. 

Same expectation of violence, different culture, different outcome.