The world was greeted with the word that one bully - Usama Bin Laden is dead, and while many celebrate this news, the world is waiting to see what the fall out from his death will be.
But there are many other bullies out there, ones that we have little hope of getting rid of unless we, the people unite.
The RCMP - some of them would be a great example of bullies. Take the story out of BC, where reporters were told to stay back from a fire scene yet two off duty officers on their motorcycles were allowed to park where no one else was. They were not there for the fire call, they were in the Wendy's restaurant next door and allowed to tread where others were not, just because they were off duty cops.
How about the NHTSA and their Biker Stops and the profiling that takes place in many states like New York. (Remember what happened with Daytona Bike Week and the profiling that happened in Georgia?)
And how about corporate America...can some of the big businesses be labelled as bullies? Read the article about an Ohio Harley-Davidson dealer who is being forced to move his 25 year old business or not have his dealers contract renewed. He's been given 2 years to get the job done. But please read the article and see the headaches both financial and logistical, that this is causing him.
There are many situations in this world where those with power use it in an indiscriminate way to further their own agendas. The only way we, the people, are ever going to see any thoughtful change to certain aspects of this trend in the riding community be stopped - world wide - this trend of being bullied is if we start gathering evidence of these situations.
Can we prevent big business from forcing their corporate decisions on retailers where it causes unnecessary hardship? I am doubtful that we could unless the customers of the dealers being forced to move their businesses tell the manufacturer - the corporate office that we like where the dealer is located. Even then - they can dictate whom obtains a retail licensing agreement, so truly the answer is probably a no.
Can we change the attitude or demeanour of the police services? YES.
Now, not all officers pull the stunt of abusing their badges, their positions of authority but there are FAR TOO MANY that do. Not all officers act like Monty Robinson and abuse their authority or their knowledge of the law and insult the intelligence of tax payers and the courts. But as I said, there are far too many that do just what Robinson has, abuse their badge and their knowledge.
This riding season I am asking every rider who is stopped, every rider who has a video camera or regular and catches the profiling behaviour of the police to contact me.
I do not care what country you are from. What province in Canada you are from - if you attend an event and the police are "covertly" taking photographs of every license plate, and of every rider who attends the event...if you are in one of the massive check stops that police are using to "protect" our community from itself and you are bullied or harassed - I want the evidence sent to me.
You need to write down the badge numbers and names of these officers where ever possible. You need to provide photos or videos that detail what these officers were doing. And you need to provide a written statement of what you witnessed and/or experienced.
If we can gather enough evidence, then the gentlemen who were successful in lobbying their state government in Washington to protect their community from the profiling and indiscriminate gathering of "intelligence" by police officers - well, they are willing to help us here in Canada and anywhere in the world to accomplish what they have.
We need to stand up and protect ourselves.
The sad fact of the matter is that event coordinators all over our country are being told that their liquor licenses will not be approved if they allow any one percenter to sell their wares and that events WILL BE SHUT DOWN if they allow patrons to wear outlaw/one percenter patches at their events. Event coordinators are being forced to tell people to take their patches off or suffer the consequences.
That is so unfair to the event coordinator - they are being forced into doing the police services job. It puts them in tough - it opens them to discrimination suits - and all because the police services know they cannot legally do what they insist the coordinators do. They force them to use the petty trespass act as their only means of defence.
The police services will not present event coordinators with a list of "Illegal" patches - why? Because there is no such thing as an "Illegal" patch. And yet....
You as Joe Q Citizen WILL have your license plate photographed and you WILL be labelled as a supporter of the outlaws if you happen to be at an event that they attend. It does NOT matter that you do not know the people wearing the patch - YOU ARE GUILTY by virtue of the fact that you were in their presence.
Our Charter protects our right to the freedom of association and yet the police justify themselves and their actions by saying they are gathering intelligence on the outlaw clubs and that makes it OK for them to violate YOUR RIGHTS.
The RCMP here in our fair community of Grande Prairie Alberta, WILL NOT block intersections for our Toy Run...why you ask? Because two years ago a full patched member of the Edmonton Hells Angels, a local man - born and raised in Grande Prairie attended the toy run with his patch on and the event coordinator did not ask the man to take his patch off. But wait, there's more...
In the 30 years of the Grande Prairie AB, Toy Run, NEVER have the police ever blocked intersections for us and yet now we are no longer allowed to block intersections on our own - we did intersection blocking for 29 years but now, because of one person attending the event, the other 4-700 of us who do ARE being targeted for unfair treatment.
A few years back at the June Porker Run that supports the fall Toy Run, 6 members of the Hells Angels came to the last stop on the run to donate some money - they brought with them a helicopter, two squad cars and three under cover vehicles - and yes, every person who attended the run had their plates and faces photographed. And I know for a fact that our community here in Grande Prairie is NOT alone. The Edmonton Swap meet held by the Edmonton Hells Angels sees the Biker Enforcement unit out in full force, taking photos of everyone who goes in or out. The CMDRA drag races in various communities get targeted for special attention because some members of the Hells Angels attend and or race. Every spectator at these events gets the same treatment that the outlaws get - we all get photographed and our plates are noted and why? Because the "outlaws" happen to be at an event.
This unfair treatment of the riding community needs to stop and only WE, the citizens can do that.
There are communities that have a great relationship with their local police service but as we witnessed in Drumheller, that relationship can change in a heart beat - the minute a new staff sergeant is installed in a detachment. For years, the Harley-Davidson dealers of Alberta hosted the Wayne Rally with very few incidents but all of that came to a grinding halt with the advent of a new staff sergeant.
There are events in BC that although well run and have NO or very little presence from the outlaw clubs that are being squeezed by the RCMP. They are being refused their liquor licenses because the RCMP do not want "bikers" in their region.
You see in order to get a liquor license, you must have approval from the RCMP.
If they demand to see your vendors list and they do not like someone on that list, you can and will be told to either get rid of the vendor or not have your license approved.
You - the rider, play a great roll in the allowing of events to proceed - YOUR behaviours - YOUR conduct, reflect on that of the event coordinator. If you are selfish and do burn outs on public road ways, if you wick on the throttle in such a way as to cause excessive noise, if you ride drunk or in other ways are disrespectful - YOU are all the cause the RCMP need to target the rest of us who do our best to be respectful and responsible and you are the reason that so many of our great events get shut down.
So again, I am asking you to be respectful and if you are unfairly harassed by an officer, asked about your tattoos and what they stand for, asked about your Riding Club patch - remember that these are profiling tactics. IF YOU ATTEND an event where the one percenters are, be cognizant of the fact that there WILL be police presence - usually undercover and they WILL be taking photographs and YOU WILL be labelled a supporter and therefore potentially become a target for further violations of your rights.
IF you care at all about your right to peaceful assembly, if you care at all about the fact that your bike plate and photo can and will be added to the Biker Enforcement Units of the police services "intelligence files" then it is time to act to protect our community.
Profiling IS illegal. The police can not stop a person without just cause who is Black, Italian, Hispanic or a member of any other ethnic - visible minority - group regardless of the fact that there are alleged "criminals" in their communities.
We as riders are a VISIBLE minority and we need and deserve the protection of our laws - we get that by producing the evidence that we are being unfairly targeted and profiled by the police services and then taking that evidence to the the Supreme Court of Canada or the Governments of the country you live in and lobbying for the protection of our our rights.
It has been done successfully in Washington State - riders there are now protected from profiling and targeting by the police and it CAN be done elsewhere in the world - but we the citizens have to care enough to exercise the rights and freedoms that our Charters afford, that our veterans and armed forces personnel fight to protect. If we don't care enough to take the time to amass the evidence needed then then we will get what we get - a police state where they call the shots in spite of the fact that we pay their wages and they are supposed to protect and serve.
So like with the election here in Canada today - I am asking you to stand up and be counted - have your voice heard and let's start gathering the evidence that our community is being unfairly targeted.
Remember - according to their own stats - CSIS states in 2007, that approximately 200 people are members of the Hells Angels in Canada and that gives them - the Biker Enforcement Units - in their opinion - the right to profile and harass the other 499,800 estimated riders in this country. (Read the section called North America (La Cosa Nostra and outlaw motorcycle gangs - point number 20)
According to a CSIS report from 1998 there were 24 chapters of alleged bad guys who ride motorcycles - on our web site - www.beltdrivebettty.com we are linked to over 600 motorcycle riding clubs in Canada - do you see how skewed things are?
Read the RCMP Watch Blog - it is filled with tons of information on our National Police Services and it's abuses and wrong doings.
In July of 2010, there is an article from the RCMP that outlines the fact that out of 18,500 officers - Begin Quote - 56 members of the force were formally disciplined during the 2008-2009 fiscal year for a range of code of conduct violations, including soliciting a prostitute, sexual assault, masturbating in a vehicle and impaired driving.
Another 231 members of the force were informally disciplined for less serious cases. They typically result in reprimands, transfers or some form of counselling. End Quote
So in all - during 2008/09 287 officers out of 18,500 were disciplined for conduct unbecoming - that's what we, the tax payers are being told about - how about all of the cases that no one reports? I wonder how many of them there are?
Are we - the taxpayers of this country and members of the Canadian motorcycle community, going to continue to allow these people whom we pay, to violate our Charter Rights? Are we going to continue to allow these people to target and profile us because of they want to gather intelligence on the 200 or so members of the Hells Angels? I hope not.
There are other things you can do -Join with groups that work at protecting you and your rights... join BCCOM in BC, the OCC in Ontario and look at forming coalitions of riders and clubs in regions where there are none. Uniting makes us stronger.
Well - that's my rant for the day and I truly would appreciate your feedback on the topic of the day. I would also appreciate any photos, documents and videos of the profiling of our community. You can send them to me through our web site.
faɪ