It doesn’t lie

Toronto police will soon implement a sensible pilot project to test lapel (or vest) cameras on officers working with the public. This move follows a recent recommendation that police adopt the so-called “body-worn” video cams. It’s not known how many officers or in what divisions the cameras will be tested. Many departments in the U.S. use the cameras and the results have been almost uniformly good.  In addition to providing raw evidence of what happened in a criminal matter, the cameras appear to have a modifying effect on the behaviour of both police and the public. In some Americans cities the use of force by police has declined and complaints against the police have dropped by as much as 90 per cent. Deputy Chief Peter Sloly told the Toronto Star, “There are a lot of different variables that are part of this. It’s not just clipping a camera onto an officer’s lapel. There’s policy issues, there’s IT issues, there’s budget issues.” The cameras come in varying levels of quality. Some departments have cameras costing as little as $100, but the quality and stability is marginal. Others can cost between $500 and $1,000.   

What’s funny?  Slapstick comics knew they were sure to get a laugh by falling down.  Depending on your sense of humour, it can be fun to watch teenagers fall on a slick little patch of ice as they leave school. A video, since pulled down from YouTube, recorded a father, waiting for his daughter, records some six minutes of kids falling, sliding, standing around while other kids fall, going back to the ice, falling again and somehow finally walking away. Through it all, the man with the video absolutely relishes each bounce. He chuckles and guffaws and adds sound effects. When his daughter joins him in the car his play by play becomes even more elaborate. “Okay…watch this kid, I guarantee ya he’s gonna drill it….Ohhhh!.  Altogether it is a faceted study in human nature. The sheer enjoyment of the father, teenagers oblivious to what’s beneath their feet, others (mostly girls) who can figure out the potential for falling, the lure of the ice (mostly boys) that makes them return to the patch.   

There’s a very warm glow around the Leaside Memorial Community Gardens on Millwood Road these days following the flawless success of the Leaside Select Invitational Tournament last week. As Jeff Munn, vice president of the select program at the Leaside Hockey Association was saying, “It was four days of hockey and family fun and it went off without a hitch.” That’s a good verdict on an event that saw 1,800 kids suit up and 6,500 family members converge on Leaside’s new two-pad arena, and on the two rinks Leaside rents at the Canlan complex on Victoria Park Ave.  The size and speed with which the events fly by make it tough to assess all the positive results. Mr. Munn is especially pleased with six new teams that were created by Leaside alone because of the extra ice availability this year. The Grade 9 Boys Bantam team in this group were notable achievers as the inset picture suggests. There is a spirit and commitment among the 420 families who participate in the Leaside select program which no doubt other association around town would like to bottle and take home. Now the planning will begin again because no matter what anyone thinks, 2015 isn’t that far off. The 15 member committee that plans the tournament will meet again before too long. Those who form the 40 member shock troop corp of getting things done are all on call. For the moment, however, everyone may take a breather and bask in the satisfaction of a job well done.    

Most of us will enjoy well enough this sixth Family Day. At the South Bayview Bulldog, we will be cleaning out drawers and be cheerful for the chance.  News organizations, sensing the challenge of the weather, have been busy asking people what they will do. Young bloods out on the skating rinks promise solemnly to spend time with mom and dad. This is really not fair. No one, not even Premier Dad (now exiled to Ottawa) expected this to be much more than another day off.  Mr. McGuinty was a near caricature of himself when he announced this holiday in 2008 and then waxed on about how he had always wished that he had spent more time with his father. The idea of a mid-winter long weekend was not new when the Liberals cooked up Family Day. Having run out of warm weather long weekends with which to gift voters, governments had long pondered a mid-winter break. Then they thought about the weather and perhaps the lost productivity  and decided to forget it. 

Bloomberg News says that Tesla Motors in California is investigating a fire involving a Model S in Toronto on Valentine’s Day. The fire happened in a Toronto garage after the car’s owner returned from a drive, and the vehicle wasn’t plugged in to recharge when it occurred. “After a few moments, the owner’s fire detector went off and the fire department was called,” the publication Business Insider says. Telsa is a pure electric car run powered by ion lithium batteries, a technology that has not been without trouble. There were three Model S fires reported in the U.S. last year, but always either in the context of an accident or while plugged in. Tesla has released a statement saying it has definitively determined that the fire did not originate in the battery, the charging system, the adapter or the electrical receptacle, as these components were untouched by the fire.

Canada wins 2-1 in overtime as London’s Drew Doughty scores the critical goal. Here the 24-year old defenseman high fives teammates. It was a hard-fought game that drove fans mad with anxiety — nervous, heart attack, going insane — all were invoked by Canadian supporters. Here is CBC explanation of the complex Olympic ranking system.

Canada moved on to the quarter-finals of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, but it won’t be as the No. 1 seed. Drew Doughty scored two goals, including the overtime winner, as Team Canada earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Finland at Bolshoy Ice Dome Sunday, securing the third seed and a bye into the quarter-finals. Canada will play the qualification-round winner between Latvia and Switzerland. Finland goaltender Tuukka Rask was spectacular, turning aside 25 shots in the losing effort but Canadian counterpart Carey Price was equally up to the task, although much less busy. Price, getting the start in place of Roberto Luongo, made 14 saves. The Canadians needed a regulation win (and the accompanying three points) to clinch the top spot but finished atop Group B with eight points, while Finland was second with seven. With the overtime win Sweden officially clinched the top seed, and will face the winner of with the U.S. sliding into the second spot.       

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