Sometimes the algorithm hands you a perfect juxtaposition — above, a meme I posted on Facebook earlier today about systemic violence, and then Hashem Al-Ghaili’s question about “national wildlife” showed up lower down my feed.

The universe does love timing: I talk about predators, and Facebook hands me another kind.

My reply wrote itself.

Hashem Al-Ghaili, a much-followed Facebook account, posted the following today:

I couldn’t help responding as follows:

The SPVM (Montreal Police) — trust me, they’re FEROCIOUS and especially good at escalating a situation unnecessarily. 🥶 I used to think there was such a thing as “good cops.” Sorry guys (and gals), but you’ve shattered that illusion. 😱

👮🏼‍♀️👮👮🏻‍♂️👮👮🏻‍♂️

#policebrutalityawareness #SPVM #PTSD #ptsdawareness #mentalhealthmatters

They really went too far last time.

I had been told there were “new protocols” to handle mental-health cases with less escalation and less violence since a policeman was seen to put a knee on my neck in March 2021 (as reported by a journalist neighbour at the time). I’m here to tell you: that is nonsense, and I’m not shutting up about it anytime soon.

A young officer refused to give me his first name and was openly rude to me on my birthday on July 11th this year — demanding to know whether I was on my meds when I was the one calling to report intimidation I had been subjected to. The way they mishandled me, humiliated me, and brutalized me on September 14th under the fake pretext that I was a risk to myself — when I absolutely was not — was the icing on the cake I never did get for my 56th birthday. Come to think of it.

Should I be grateful they didn’t put a knee on my neck this time?

Hardly likely.

It would be one thing
if the problem were a few individuals “going off script.”

But that’s the point:

they aren’t going off script.

They are following it.

They enter the force and are specifically trained in completely inhumane protocols.

When someone chooses to stay in an institution like that, knowing exactly what it demands, they’re telling you what they value: control, dominance, the thrill of unbalanced power.

I have zero respect for that dynamic.

Sorry not sorry, guys — you’re welcome to go f*ck yourselves.