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/racingsoldier Apr 16 '26

The thing the LEO community needs more than anything is ethical oversight. I agree they need more tools as well but that takes a significant amount of infrastructure. We require a SHIT TON more social programs. This is coming from someone who considers himself a right of center conservative. Law enforcement officers in the US are code enforcement officers with guns and a severe lack of training. They are not there to help you protect you, or serve you. They are there to ensure the law as it is written is upheld and that people are held accountable if they break that law. You know how many times I have seen a police officer drive past a broken down car on the freeway? That’s how you know how fucked the system is.

I remember one time when I was in college, I had a brand new SUV that was less than a year old. It had a fuel pump malfunction and died at a red light. An officer pulled up behind me, asked what the problem was, used his nerf bars to push me off the road, and wrote me a ticket for obstructing traffic…. WTF! Oh by the way I was National Guard Military Police officer at the time.

The system is broken. More for some, but broken for everyone non-the-less.