Toronto Police PR Disaster of the Day: What the F*ck was that cop doing with that gun on the roof?

Was it an example of bringing lethal force to a peaceful protest or simply the police being properly prepared?

There are plenty of opinions.

With all of the social media chatter Wednesday about this sniper’s rifle photographed on a terrace at Toronto Police headquarters, you’d swear it had been fired at protesters.

This did not happen. In fact the gun, which in pictures is resting on the ground, was never supposed to be seen by the public.

However, like it did during the G20, citizen journalism has struck once again.

With government seemingly lacking the courage to properly oversee police, amateur photographers and social media commentators are taking it upon themselves.

But while some of my copper contacts question the deployment of such a weapon, many others tell me there is no story here and that it’s just routine policing.

If that's routine, then we have some very fucked up people running our police.

Of course, there are dangerously uninformed members of the public ready to justify any dumb action the police may take:

Steven Blenkinsop 13 hours ago
The way people are talking about it, they're making it sound like the sniper rifle was used. It wasn't. It wasn't even pointed at anybody. Police have guns with them all the time. A handgun will kill you just as good as a sniper rifle. A sniper rifle's just more precise (ie, innocent bystanders are much, much less likely to get hit), and much more useful for a guy watching from the rooftops should a dangerous situation arise in a crowd.

A sniper has to get authorization to engage. It isn't like he'll see something, misinterpret it, and snipe some innocent dude in the crowd.

Oh well, that makes everything all right again. I'm so relieved.

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