Ottawa Police rank and file appear to have a serious discipline problem. There have been previous cases of police assaulting citizens without charges being laid. This goes back at least 2 police chiefs. They call us 'civilians', in order to distinguish themselves from 'them'. Which implies that they think they are military or para-military. But the police forces do not apply a military code of discipline to their members. Instead, they run towards their unions,  and if that doesn't work, they can always count on the SIU to make it all go away,  except in the most publicly visible and egregious cases.

If they think they are military, then they should act like them. They can start by saluting citizens they approach, like the French Gendarmerie, which was indeed part of the French Armed Forces. It's a small step towards earning respect, and should be a sign of integrity. Otherwise, they should consider themselves civilians, as the founder of modern policing, John Peel, envisaged.