Greater Toronto
Police warn of attempts to demonize Muslims and of major fraudulent operations in effect
Osman Khan, Co-Chair, Muslim Consultative Committee of the Toronto Police Service along with other community leaders listen attentively to Detective Alan Spratt during last week's information forum at Police Headquarters. (William Doyle-Marshall pix)
By William Doyle-Marshall
Demonising the Muslim community and being on the lookout for organizations and individuals who target seniors for fraudulent purposes are among concerns being tackled by the Toronto Police Service.
This was disclosed at a forum last week hosted by the Muslim Consultative Committee at Police Headquarters downtown. Leaders from the Islamic community were among participants who heard of the range of matters being addressed by members of the service.
Sergeant Gary McQueen of the Hate Crime Unit talked about investigations that the unit is involved with currently that impact on the Muslim community. While they are found not to be criminal, police consider the impact these incidents have on the community as dangerous.
McQueen said organizations set on discrediting the Muslim community publish articles that will try to demonize Islam and the Muslim faith. But he told the gathering of leaders there is no involvement by the Muslim community here in terrorism at all.
Acknowledging that a stereotype is a commonly held public belief about specific groups or types of individuals, the law officer said unfortunately stereotyping and bias actions and opinions of a select few can negatively affect public opinion of the community at large.
“The results of stereotyping can lead to negative consequences. The Muslim community has been victimised by hate crimes in the past and even in recent history,” said Sergeant McQueen.
“The English Defence League (EDL) claim to be against the Islamisation of Britain and we have a group here in Canada and all over the world called the JDL (the Jewish Defence League), a bit of a right wing group opposed to Islam and the Qu’ran. They supported a live streaming of a speaker from the EDL at the Zionist Center at 788 Marlee that resulted in a bit of a riotous situation where four police officers were injured and as a result six people were arrested. And I can tell you none of the people arrested were from the Muslim community,” the law officer reported.
The Hate Crime Unit scrutinized this issue from a criminal standpoint to see if any hate crime laws were being violated. Hate Crime Unit members are always looking at those groups that would attempt to use any situations to demonize the community. Police are using all the resources at their disposal to make sure that it doesn’t happen, McQueen said.
In addition he referred to the controversial pastor Terry Jones in the U.S. who spoke about the international judgement day of the Qu’ran or burn the Qu’ran day. He admitted there are members in Canadian society that will of course seize this opportunity to demonize the community.
“Just so that you know that your Hate Crime Unit is aware of these issues, we do go to them, we do what we can to make sure that even if laws aren’t being broken that these incidents aren’t used to further demonize our community,” McQueen assured.
Members of the Islamic community were warned by Detective Alan Spratt of the Mass Marketing Unit to be on guard as local and cross border fraudulent crimes were alive and well. From 2000 to 2007 police had over 3,000 complaints; over 600 arrests were made; over 1,000 charges laid; over 400 search warrants executed and more than $300 million dollars lost through these fraudulent activities but very little restitution.
Forum participants heard of the grandparent scheme that specifically targets elder (seniors) people. The caller pretends to be a grandchild of the individual. They will say they are in trouble; they need money and will ask for money to be sent to them by wire transfer.
There is the dating or marriage, inheritance scam where you will get randomly notified (by email or regular mail) that someone with a similar name and with a bunch of money, passed away and they need to use you to get that inheritance.
In addition there are the lottery or sweepstakes, work at home also known as secret shoppers; phantom Internet auctions where people would place an advertisement for sale on the Internet but the item does not exist.
There were presentations from personnel in the Employment division; Forensic Identification Services and Social media.
Demonising the Muslim community and being on the lookout for organizations and individuals who target seniors for fraudulent purposes are among concerns being tackled by the Toronto Police Service.
This was disclosed at a forum last week hosted by the Muslim Consultative Committee at Police Headquarters downtown. Leaders from the Islamic community were among participants who heard of the range of matters being addressed by members of the service.
Sergeant Gary McQueen of the Hate Crime Unit talked about investigations that the unit is involved with currently that impact on the Muslim community. While they are found not to be criminal, police consider the impact these incidents have on the community as dangerous.
McQueen said organizations set on discrediting the Muslim community publish articles that will try to demonize Islam and the Muslim faith. But he told the gathering of leaders there is no involvement by the Muslim community here in terrorism at all.
Acknowledging that a stereotype is a commonly held public belief about specific groups or types of individuals, the law officer said unfortunately stereotyping and bias actions and opinions of a select few can negatively affect public opinion of the community at large.
“The results of stereotyping can lead to negative consequences. The Muslim community has been victimised by hate crimes in the past and even in recent history,” said Sergeant McQueen.
“The English Defence League (EDL) claim to be against the Islamisation of Britain and we have a group here in Canada and all over the world called the JDL (the Jewish Defence League), a bit of a right wing group opposed to Islam and the Qu’ran. They supported a live streaming of a speaker from the EDL at the Zionist Center at 788 Marlee that resulted in a bit of a riotous situation where four police officers were injured and as a result six people were arrested. And I can tell you none of the people arrested were from the Muslim community,” the law officer reported.
The Hate Crime Unit scrutinized this issue from a criminal standpoint to see if any hate crime laws were being violated. Hate Crime Unit members are always looking at those groups that would attempt to use any situations to demonize the community. Police are using all the resources at their disposal to make sure that it doesn’t happen, McQueen said.
In addition he referred to the controversial pastor Terry Jones in the U.S. who spoke about the international judgement day of the Qu’ran or burn the Qu’ran day. He admitted there are members in Canadian society that will of course seize this opportunity to demonize the community.
“Just so that you know that your Hate Crime Unit is aware of these issues, we do go to them, we do what we can to make sure that even if laws aren’t being broken that these incidents aren’t used to further demonize our community,” McQueen assured.
Members of the Islamic community were warned by Detective Alan Spratt of the Mass Marketing Unit to be on guard as local and cross border fraudulent crimes were alive and well. From 2000 to 2007 police had over 3,000 complaints; over 600 arrests were made; over 1,000 charges laid; over 400 search warrants executed and more than $300 million dollars lost through these fraudulent activities but very little restitution.
Forum participants heard of the grandparent scheme that specifically targets elder (seniors) people. The caller pretends to be a grandchild of the individual. They will say they are in trouble; they need money and will ask for money to be sent to them by wire transfer.
There is the dating or marriage, inheritance scam where you will get randomly notified (by email or regular mail) that someone with a similar name and with a bunch of money, passed away and they need to use you to get that inheritance.
In addition there are the lottery or sweepstakes, work at home also known as secret shoppers; phantom Internet auctions where people would place an advertisement for sale on the Internet but the item does not exist.
There were presentations from personnel in the Employment division; Forensic Identification Services and Social media.