Alex Reid

A million year ago – or in real time, July 2004 – I was stopped by an angry cop (Winnipeg Police Service officer #1849; Smith) who blantly made up a $105 traffic ticket to “teach [me] a lesson” because.. well, I’m not actually sure why.

I can’t express how upsetting this experience was in words; imagine the worst meathead bully pushing you around with a gun and openly bragging about how he can make up charges against you. Since I can’t do my experience justice right now, read about the angry Winnipeg cop here. I honestly think this angry cop was on steroids.

Anyway, George Wright, the commissioner at LERA (the Law Enforcement Review Agency) called me yesterday to tell me that they believe there is more than enough evidence to support that this officer used “oppressive conduct” and for being “discourteous”. Of course, the latter is a joke.

LERA asked me if I wanted to meet with angry cop, but I declined. What’s the point? He’s a liar (see what the traffic court judge said here) and he’s clearly vindicative. Would you meet with someone like this?

So, LERA has given angry cop 30 days to respond. He can either a) admit he’s a jerk or b) continue to be a jerk. Assuming he chooses option B, I’ll be going to a hearing in the spring and the cop’s lawyer will try to break me down, blame the victim blah blah kind of thing. (See here). No matter what, at this point, angry cop has this blemish on his record. This is very rare. Only two percent of LERA complaints actually make it to court. I wrote an article about how in 2003, one in five Winnipeg Police officers had complaints against them.

Maybe next time, he’ll treat strangers with more respect and dignity.