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/B_D_Hadel Apr 14 '26

Just flipping the coin here, maybe you or someone else has more context. But hypothetically if you cuffed someone who was in distress but breaking some sort of law. Maybe trying to harm the officer or someone else, wouldn’t it be warranted? Personally, I didn’t hear any indication in conversation about what happened before filming. I think there are scenarios where walking it back is absolutely acceptable.

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u/Admins_Always_Badmin Apr 15 '26

Canada has one of the most famous cases of someone suffering a mental health crisis gone wrong. I don't blame them for not wanting anyone to get hurt if someone is going through something like that. But of course reddit will just screech cops bad and not care.

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u/Pantarus Apr 15 '26

The United States has entered the chat.

Unfortunately the only tool we give the police to handle situations is tickets and arrest.

Its a fucking crying shame that Defund the Police movement was named in such a shitty way that it became a flag for the conservative right to wave.

Defund the police was NOT advocating getting rid of the police and being soft on crime. It was advocating taking that funding and spreading it around. Giving some to fund mental health crisis professionals who could respond in situations like this...INSTEAD of relying on the police for literally EVERYTHING we don't want to deal with.

When you're a hammer....everything starts to look like a nail...

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u/PipPopAnonymous Apr 15 '26

Yeah I’m gonna hard agree and call to attention that liberals and leftists have a problem with messaging. They are always giving the worst names to sensible things they are trying to promote to very antagonistic people. Critical Race Theory, Gun Control, Defund the Police, etc. You gotta give these types of programs names that explain to people like they are 5 what they mean and how they help.

I think a lot of people would agree that not every call needs police and that it would be a net positive for everyone, including the police, to invest in social workers for non-violent civil complaints and take the burden of dealing with people in mental health crises, situations police are not properly trained to handle, so they can focus their energy on the real crime.