The Ben Mulroney Show - Law and Order in Canada -- A pair of stories that paint a picture

Episode Date: August 8, 2025

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We made it, team. We made it to the end of the week. If you're in Ontario, if you're in a province that had a long weekend, it's been a short week, but a chalk a block week full of news. And one of the stories that we've been following, which we touched on yesterday at the end of the show, was the, I mean, I'm going to just say it. I haven't been told I can't say it. So I'm going to say it, Dildo Gate, right? This idea that for some reason fans at WNBA games for the past few days have been throwing dildos, we'll call them sex objects from now on, sex objects is what people call me.

the court and one of them actually hit one of the players who just a few days earlier tweeted that she wanted people to stop throwing those. What is the chance of that happening? And nobody was taking ownership over this. We were wondering why would one do that, spend your own money to go to a game and spend your own money on a sex toy to then throw it on the court and no one knows why if it was some sort of marketing ploy. It was a bad one. Well, we now have a little bit of clarity on that front. A cryptocurrency group has claimed responsibility for throwing the sex toys. The group says the acts are a protest against the, quote, toxic environment in the crypto world and not meant to disrespect women athletes. They're claiming that they've chosen

in the WNBA because of the number of eyes on the game and two individuals have been arrested for throwing these things. The group says they plan to continue with lighter and more tasteful pranks to gain attention. I'm calling BS. Friday is the day where I best my producer in a game we call, is it BS or is it real. We're starting it early. This is all BS. It's bunk. It's baloney. None of this is true. And if it is, I mean, think about it. Okay, let's let's break this down. We're talking about the toxic environment. I have to assume that we're talking about crypto bros, right? That the most toxic of men and there, and misogyny, it goes hand in hand with that lifestyle, right?

Not all crypto grows are misogynists, but a lot of misogynists are crypto bros. And so you are going to try to raise awareness for that toxicity by throwing sex objects at women in an environment where they are they have been elevated to the highest position they can in their sport because of their dedication and their talent and you are you are essentially reducing them to sex objects themselves you feel that that is an appropriate way to get your message across okay let's live in a world where you are you are being honest I believe we now have a new high watermark for dumbasses in the world. That is the dumbest thing that we have ever laid out for you.

It's really, it's dumb on a level that requires medication and supervision. It's idiotic. And so I don't, so I, I'd rather live in a world where you're lying than this be true. because if it's true you're some of the dumbest people in the history of the world and we'll see what happens next

also not for nothing we don't know the name of your group that wasn't reported you didn't even tell me there was an episode of Parks and Rec loved it where Leslie Knope was running

for city council against Paul Rudd and she didn't want to go negative so she did her own commercial because her team wanted to go negative. She didn't want to go negative and she does her own commercial. She's very proud of her own commercial. And her boyfriend slash campaign manager who wanted to go negative looks at her commercial and says that's the worst commercial I've ever seen. He's like, what are you talking about? I lay out all my ideas. I tell everybody what I stand for. He goes, yeah, except you didn't tell people your name and you didn't say that

you were running for office. This is that level of dumb. So we'll leave it there. I could I could keep digging, but I'm in the hole. Every now and then, you hear something from a judge in this country, and it speaks to the part of you that just wants justice, that just wants logic and order in the world. And far too often on this show, we are left dumbfounded at the decisions rendered by judges in this country. And we are supposed to defer to them because of their sage experience. and we're supposed to just accept what they say when they release somebody who was charged

and convicted with an incredible crime or they've got a rap sheet longer than my arm and we're being told that a conditional release is exactly what they need and exactly what the law prescribes even though they have been charged and convicted with the same thing four or five times well there was a guy who was a five time DUI loser and the last time he was arrested. They found him with fentanyl riding on on his rims. And, and he was given a conditional sentence from a judge. Well, a judge at a higher court slapped the crap out of this person verbally gave, said that it was a willful violation of this judge's judicial duty and an affront to justice. So the offender, Joseph Leclair, five impaired driving conditions. The latest, as I said,

involving fentanyl while driving dangerously on damaged rims, swerving, fleeing the police all while under a driving ban and the judge gave this person a conditional release. The Superior Court judge, Jennifer

Wolcom, overturned the sentence imposing the required and very lenient four-month jail term and just destroyed this person. And it occurred to me like, yeah, the only criticism that seems to be valid of a judge is another judge. Because I can sit here and tell you all the reasons why I think

the judge is wrong. But the judge is on the bench because they have the experience. They have the perspective. They have the knowledge of the law. And therefore, they're almost to a certain person above criticism. Well, that's the system that we have. And these are the judges in place. Well, they're fallible. And they have their own foibles. And they have their own failings. And they have their own biases. And clearly, the only way the ship is going to get righted is by naming and shaming people who are taking advantage of the system and making things worse. So I commend Justice Jennifer Wilcom for not just reversing the decision, but putting a lot of responsibility on the judge who not only misread the law, but applied it completely wrong.

wrongly and um because let's let's remember like despite arguments about rehabilitation and health concerns here the appellate judge said jail was necessary and appropriate noting previous lenient sentences had not deterred leclair's behavior and that's by the way that's something that a lot of us would say we say that like hey you keep giving these people lenient sentences and it doesn't seem to be changing their behavior part of a sentence is supposed to be to change that person's behavior, but also send a warning to the general public. If you do this, you'll get a sentence like that.

It's about changing everyone's behavior, making sure that they know that if you do the crime, there is serious time associated with it. If there is no time associated with the crime, people are more likely to do the crime, as we've seen. So I'm very, very happy about that. And lastly, in the minute and a half we have left, I do want to talk about how you flatter Donald Trump.

Tim Cook of Apple really seems to know what he's talking about here. He showed up in the Oval Office. Don't forget there's a new tariff, 100% tariff on semiconductors that is going to massively alter the success of a company like Apple that builds everything overseas. If they don't start building things in the United States, he's made a $600 billion dollar. investment promise into the United States. But he also showed up with a custom-made glass with 24-carat gold base along with, I mean, it's an incredible very Donald Trump present that he offered him. This is how you get into the good graces of a guy like Donald Trump.

You make a promise and you flatter the crap out of him. Vladimir Zelensky should have done this months ago. and so everybody should be taking note this is how you get what you want out of Donald Trump give him a promise of what he wants give him a big present flatter him and then it should be it should be smooth sailing from then

all right one Ontario police force wants to send drones to 911 calls before an officer arise is this a big deal or not we'll discuss next searchlight pictures presents the roses only in theaters august 29th from the director of meet the parents and the writer of poor things comes the roses starring academy award winner olivia coleman academy award nominee benedic cumberbatch andy sandberg kate mckenon and alison janny a hilarious new comedy filled

with drama excitement and a little bit of hatred proving that marriage isn't always a bed of roses see the roses only in theaters august 29th You know the abominable snowman. Yeah, I'm real, and I don't. Talk like Lee, Yeti. Just like you hairless yeties, I love summer. Camping, hiking, everything. My Subaru, with standard symmetrical full-time all-wheel drive,

is also great in winter, because summer's too short. Am I right? So head to your local Subaru dealer for lease rates from 1.99% for 24 months on select models. Like me, they're made to summer and built for winter. Conditions apply, see dealer for details. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney Show, and I want to thank everybody for joining us. I'm just looking at my phone right now because I want to double check. We've got, at Last Blush, we are sitting at 28.6,000 followers on Instagram.

That's at Ben Mulroney Show. And we thank each and every one of you for becoming a follower. We want to get as many people as part of that community as possible. We hope you like the content. We hope you share the content, and we hope to grow that community as much as possible. And if we hit the milestone of 30,000, well, then we get as much tequila and ribs as we can eat here and drink here at the Ben Mulrudey show. We'll do so on a Friday because if we really do shoot the lock off the liquor cabinet, we're going to need a day to recover. But want to thank you very, very much.

And now I would like to invite a great friend of the show to join us, Hank Insinga. He is a Toronto crime specialist as well as a former police inspector. and we've got a really important conversation to have here, Hank. There's news out of Peel region that they're going to be the first police group in the country to be using drones for 911 calls. Yeah, Peel Police have announced that they're going to use drones, not only for what we are already seeing drones being used for in police services, but also to respond to some 911.

calls. So it's pretty unusual. It's one of the first police services in Canada to really take this step. We see it in the United States. We see it in the United Kingdom. We also see it in India, where they have drones for several years now, responding to 911 calls. So they're absolutely very effective when it comes to search of management and mapping of scenes and whatnot. This will be interesting to see what type of impact they have if and when they do respond to specific 9-1-1-1 calls. So, well, let's talk, let's talk, you said specific 911 calls. There have to be certain calls for which, you want the right tool for the right job, right?

So, so where are drones appropriate, would be, where would they be appropriately applied? And where do they just not have a place? Well, they're talking about having drones respond to armed suspect situations and robberies and home invasions, claiming the drones will get there a lot faster than police officers in cars. I remember Brampton, Mississauga, some more wide open areas than you're going to see in Toronto. Of course, we've seen a lot of provincial funding now to try and build the helicopter program out in the outlying areas. And that's a good thing for those outlying areas, maybe not so great in a dense urban area like Toronto. So what we're seeing

a lot of the successes, though, if you do a little bit of research into the use of these drones and other jurisdictions is really, imagine at 2 o'clock in the morning, you've got a dispatcher who's got a call board, and they're backed up with like 30 different calls. People have called in for things like noise complaints and fights, and you just don't have the police personnel to respond to every single one of those. So if a call's been pending for 15, 20 minutes, for a fight, for instance, send the drone over.

The fight's probably going to be gone, and then we can clear that call. So very effective that way. Now, you know, we have an issue across the country, as we know, with police services being stretched, far beyond the points of effectiveness in certain cases, that there's certain cases where time is of the essence and the cops just can't respond in time. The criminals are gone by then, right?

In a case like this, if let's say there's a smash and grab at a mall, or let's say there is a home invasion, or let's say somebody's car is being taken, either at their home or they're being carjacked, In a situation like that, a drone could get there quick. Would the drone be tasked with following the fleeing suspects? Yeah, absolutely. And they'd be tasked with capturing that footage to see what's going on

and hopefully follow the fleeing suspects, whether it's in a vehicle, whether they're on foot. They'll be especially effective if they're on foot. These drones can pick up heat signatures to follow a car at a high rate of speed. I don't know exactly how fast these drones go. I think that might be a bit of a pipe dream. But hopefully by the time they get there and they can capture those suspect descriptions and the vehicle descriptions and passed on to officers who are responding, who should be looking for these vehicles and suspects fleeing the area as the officers enter the area.

So that's really the best way to catch people is you don't catch them in progress. You catch them as they're fleeing. So you might get them a kilometer away. There's always going to be a time delay. through the 911 call. Think about silent alarms at banks, silent alarms at pharmacies and whatnot. They could be very, very effective in getting there first

and catching that suspect as they run out the door as you wait those precious minutes for the actual police officers to respond. But I think people still really want to see those police officers there and responding and present. So that's an important factor to consider as well. Hank It's Inge, how does this work, in other jurisdictions because, you know, there can't just be a central depot for these,

for these drones. Do they have them positioned in various parts of the city so that if a call comes in in the west end of a city, that there are drones in the west end that can be tasked? Well, you know, it's a great question, Ben, especially when you consider that there are regulations in place in a lot of jurisdictions where that drone operator can't be out of the line of sight of that drone. It's just too dangerous. So what exactly is Peele going to do here? Are they going to start establishing drone bases?

Sorry, sorry, you got back up. You're telling me that in certain, that if I'm a drone operator, I'm working for the cops. And I, and we get a call that's 10 blocks away. I, as the drone operator, have to make my way to where the drone is going to be. I have to follow it. Well, I think they're they're working on getting workarounds for that type of legislation. Well, yeah, I mean, you know, that's, that's silly.

It's caused problems in the states, right, with the federal aviation authority. And they have that specific rule in place. So is there an exemption for police? Seems like, yeah, I mean, like, I'm not, I'm not, I'm trying to, I'm trying to, I'm trying to help prevent a crime or solve a crime or arrest people breaking the law. I'm not trying to get footage for footage for my YouTube. channel. Yeah, absolutely. And you're seeing a lot of footage on YouTube channels from private drone operators who are actually using them to harass drug dealers and criminals on the streets in their neighborhood. Right? They're frustrated with the lack of response from the authorities and the

police and they're using them very effectively as well. So, but again, you're going to be able to work around those line of site regulations. And but what's the grand plan? Think about the the canine units for example. You know, 30 years ago, we were lucky to have one canine unit working at any given time in the city of Toronto, and now they've rapidly expanded that, so they've got them in the different districts. Not quite at the point where they have them at each division or on every platoon, which they really should, because they are extremely effective. But if this drone program is a success, I think we'll see something like that, where there'll be a district drone. You know, we see the helicopters

where they have a Peel helicopter, York helicopter, a Durham helicopter. whether it'll get expanded with the same sort of idea depending on the success rate okay real real quick though we've got to talk about those who would look at this with a cynical eye and those who would say all right sure right now these things are only tasked upon the request that comes from a 911 call but if this is successful there could be advocates pushing for drone patrols all the time everywhere once you loosen the reins on what a drone who can operate a drone and when and where then all of a sudden it becomes a lot easier for the cops to say, you know what? That area of town over there, there's a lot of crime that comes from there. So we're just going to surveil it all the time now.

Yeah, well, appeals come right out and said they're not going to use it for general surveillance. But I think you hint exactly at where this is going down the road. I think you're going to see a lot of drones in the sky in, you know, 10, 15 years and exactly what the authorities are going to be using them for. And you also see paramedics starting to use these as well with defibrillators and getting them out to heart attack seats. So the use of these, I think, is going to grow exponentially and exactly what the police are going to use them for. There's real blowback in some jurisdictions where they're using them to catch speeders in

vehicles. Oh, yeah. And yeah, some real evidentiary issues there, and people just don't like that. And there's some privacy issues as well. You know, I'm sure if you're sitting in your backyard with the stereo on and hanging around your swimming pool and suddenly a drone appears overhead and says, hey, we've got a noise complaint to quiet it down. You're not going to appreciate that.

That's when somebody, not me, somebody throws a beer bottle at that thing. I want to thank you so much for joining us, Hank. All the best. You have a great weekend. Thanks, Ben. Hey, how's it going? Amazing. I just finished paying off all my debt with the help of the Credit Counseling Society. Whoa, seriously? I could really use their help.

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