Int’l Day Against Police Brutality

Int’l Day Against Police Brutality

By Stacey Hale

Concerned Toronto community members gathered outside Toronto Police Headquarters at Bay and College streets on March 15 to commemorate victims of police brutality.
Despite sharp winds and just above zero temperatures people gathered to observe the International Day Against Police Brutality. This day is celebrated abroad every March 15. Toronto’s event was organized by the Justice for Jeffrey Coalition, an alliance of family, friends and concerned community members demanding justice in the case of Jeffrey Reodica.
In May of 2004 the 17-year-old Filipino teenager was shot three times in the back by plainclothes police officer Dan Belanger. After a Special Investigations Unit probe into the shooting, Belanger was cleared of any wrong doing. The Reodica family and members of the Filipino community are frustrated and angry with the SIU’s decision to clear Belanger’s name. “We were fooling ourselves to think they (the SIU) were impartial,” Joel Reodica said.
Crowd members outside police headquarters clutched signs decorated with Jeffrey’s smiling face. One sign read “first world country third world justice.” Willie Reodica, Jeffrey’s father looked calm holding a poster which read “save our sons.”
Joel Reodica, Jeffrey’s older brother addressed the crowd urging anyone who witnessed Jeffrey’s shooting to come forward. “Why don’t the witnesses come forward?” Reodica asked. “Maybe it’s because people are afraid, and rightly so.”
Reodica pushed the necessity for police and Toronto youth to build a better relationship. “We need the police,” Reodica said.  There’s “a complete disconnect between young people and the police.”
“High school students pull up their pants and walk straighter,” he said, referring to when police come around. Police “don’t care about young people (they) don’t treat (kids) with respect.”
Since the shooting Joel has kept Jeffrey on his to-do list everyday. Presently he’s working with Toronto police chief on a youth advisory council, a small group of people working to improve youth-police relations.
“It’s not the whole police force that we have an issue with, (but) there are certain bad apples that need to be weeded out,” Reodica said. Ultimately Reodica wants to “effect some change in the system.” He’s looking to revamp the existing police complaint process.
“Police violence does exist in our city,” Reodica said to the crowd. “No justice, no peace.”
Other organizations spoke out about Jeffrey and countless others that have fallen victim to police brutality. Audrey Huntley of No More Silence spoke on brutal killings in the First Nations community. Huntley spoke about police relations with native women. “Native women don’t seek help because they’re afraid (of police).” Like most speakers at the vigil to remember Jeffrey’s life, Huntley ended with “No justice, no peace.”
Owen Leach represented the Black Action Defence Committee, an organization fighting on the frontline against police shootings in Toronto’s Black community. Dudley Laws, its founder, said that issues between the Toronto police and visible minorities have existed for more than 30 years. There’s a “lack of cultural sensitivity and racism within the police force,” Laws said.
Owen Leach said “police headquarters should be ashamed,” and that Toronto police “are here to keep the working class under control.” During Leaches address the quiet, no-more-than 5-foot-6 Willlie Reodica screamed to the crowd “Belanger, he killed my son!”
Leach said the police were probably embarrassed that concerned citizens would gather outside of their headquarters to protest police brutality. “I think it’s an embarrassment to them because this is public space,” Leach said. “It exposes them.”
Other than the minute of silence Willie Reodica asked the crowd to honour in memory of Jeffrey, those that gathered were outspoken and defiant toward police. Many in the crowd cried out “shame, shame.”
“I thought it would be more quiet,” Jan Marzo, 18, a classmate of Jeffrey’s said referring to the loud crowd. Marzo is a member of the J4J Coalition, and remembers Jeffrey as the “closest friend I had at school.”
“I think we got their (the police’s) attention,” Marzo said. This gathering was “a heads up.”