Police reviewing controversial arrest
Posted Feb 27, 2012 04:08:16 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Regional Police are reviewing an incident where a Kitchener man was arrested after his daughter drew a picture of a gun.
Jessie Sansone says he was arrested outside his daughter’s school and strip searched. When police searched the home they found only a toy gun.
Regional Police Chief Matt Torigian told 570’s Jeff Allan Show Monday morning, that clearly mistakes were made. “Immediately, I asked for a review to determine what happened in this particular case and as a result of that review, we will now be conducting a very thorough review.”
Torigian adds that it’s important to be able to admit that police may have made a mistake and to learn from it. Still, he says everyone involved, including the police, the school and Family and Children’s Services, acted out of sincere concern. “When we look at this situation and we’re faced with having to review our past actions, I’ll tell you, I’d rather be questioning ourselves about what we did than having to question ourselves about what we didn’t do,” he says. “When it comes to the safety of children I think we can’t lose sight of that.”
However, there are those who believe the incident was an overreaction. Lorne Gunter is the author of a National Post column titled “When Police Mishandle Guns vs. When You Do.” He told 570’s Gary Doyle Show Monday afternoon that he believes things could have been handled with more tact. He asks, “Whatever happened to police just coming to your door and saying, ‘Hi, we have this complaint and we want to ask you a few questions.’?”
Gunter says he believes action needed to be taken, but that it was too much, too soon.
