Why the police seem to be in love with the perp walk - Michael's Essay

In the middle of last month, a young lawyer was arrested in a courtroom in Brampton, Ontario. She was delivering clothes to a client. Police say there might have been drugs in those clothes. The woman was gowned in her lawyer attire.

Police handcuffed her, marched her out of the building through crowded corridors and past busy offices, and placed her in a marked police car.

At first, Peel Regional Police denied in a press release that she was, in fact, handcuffed. They submitted that she was placed in an unmarked police car by plainclothes officers.

Turns out the cops were lying. Or in their language, they had published misinformation about the circumstances of the arrest.

Ontario lawyers were naturally outraged. The female lawyer is, after all, an officer of the court. It would have been possible to effect a quiet arrest, instead of parading her in handcuffs thorough the courthouse.

Said criminal lawyer Clayton Ruby: “Peel Police’s conduct was not an act of policing. It was an act of thuggery."

Peel Police’s conduct was not an act of policing. It was an act of thuggery- Clayton Ruby

This week, the Crown dropped two of the four charges against her.

Last May, three men charged with criminal negligence causing death after the Lac Megantic rail tragedy were handcuffed by police and frog-marched past a horde of onlookers and media into the local courthouse.

One of the accused had volunteered to turn himself in to police before his court appearance. Instead, he was arrested at his home by an armed SWAT team.

Marching accused past a phalanx of cameras is called "a perp walk".

It is one of many techniques we have imported from American police departments.

Its only purpose is to shame the accused, and demonstrate to the world of television that the cops are doing their job of protecting and serving.

It is a public relations effort. Quite often the cops will alert the media when the accused are to be walked into court or the police station. And of course, the media fall for it every time.

As for the handcuffs; once you are arrested, you will be handcuffed. Whatever the charge. And you’re never too young.

Last month Ottawa police threw the bracelets on a nine-year old boy with autism.

In the last 20 years or so, big city police departments have learned how to manipulate the press and public opinion.

For example, police press conferences are now a regular part of the news menu. Every department has highly trained flacks who spin the company line in dealing with reporters’ questions.

Only a few years ago, such things were unheard of. The cops, perhaps, would talk to regular reporters on the police beat, but full-blown press conferences were rare.

One lawyer I talked to this week said the importation of US-style police media conferences was a sign of the decline of civilization.

The handcuffs, the perp walks, the media conferences are not about policing. They are about departmental budgets and public relations.

The handcuffs, the perp walks, the media conferences are not about policing. They are about public relations.- Michael Enright

They are all American imports.

But watching how Americans police themselves, it would be nice to keep the number of such imports to a minimum.