A report on police actions at the G20 summit deserves skepticism 

Monday, May 13, 2002

There are many things wrong with the report of a self-appointed "citizens' panel" that looked into police tactics during last November's G20 summit in Ottawa. There's the panel's over-reliance on what protesters say happened; its failure to put the protests in context; and its unsubstantiated claim that the public's trust in the police has been damaged by the whole affair.

But the panel cannot be blamed for the main thing that's wrong with the report, which is that it's the only public inquiry that has been held into how police handled the summit. The serious allegations made against the police -- that they used arbitrary searches and arrests, riot squads, machine-guns and dogs to intimidate protesters exercising their democratic right to freedom of expression -- certainly warranted further investigation.

Indeed, there may never have been a citizens' panel if the police services board or the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services had made their own inquiries when concerns about police tactics were first raised six months ago.

For all that, people should not accept the panel's "findings" and recommendations without skepticism. It has based its report almost exclusively on information provided by protesters who -- quelle surprise -- said police naturally were to blame for any violence that occurred.

The police are partly responsible for this one-sided account, as they declined to give their version of events to the panel. But there is no indication that the panel tried to discern the police view from other sources, including the media. (The news reports on the panel's Web site are extremely limited and deal mostly with the work of the panel, rather than the events of last November.)

The panel also failed to acknowledge several previous anti-globalization protests that turned violent in Seattle, Quebec City and elsewhere. That's a significant omission, because those demonstrations explain why police had such a large presence at the G20 summit in the first place.

Of course, having a valid reason to deploy lots of police doesn't necessarily mean they always acted properly. The panel believes police made significant mistakes in handling the Ottawa protests and says the authorities must apologize to restore community trust. Hardly. In reality, neither the panel nor the public can determine if errors occurred when only a selective version of the facts is known.

The police must help to present a more complete account of what happened at the G20 summit. Upcoming public consultations on the Ottawa Police Services' plan for handling future demonstrations will be part of that process. But the best way to know what happened last November is for the police services board to carry out an official, objective review. Unless, of course, it agrees with the panel.

© Copyright  2002 The Ottawa Citizen