No parking, no problem and why people resent the police

The picture of a parking enforcement car dumped on Belsize Drive in brazen disregard of the no parking sign says it all.  Forget whether you think the City is running a cynical cash grab with its parking program. Opinion may differ on that. But there is no question that the person who parked this car is breaking the law, doing it purposefully and with the complicity of fellow police personnel who choose to let him/her do it. These are simple facts. It is behaviour for which anyone else would be ticketed, perhaps even towed. It would not do to say that you had just stopped for a minute or two (you know, to issue a few parking tickets for the kids). No, you would get the ticket and pay it because after all, you would not have a leg to stand on in court. The police and their political masters on City Council should have no surprise about the reasonable resentment and in some cases distrust of the police that flows from practices like this.