These are cops policing a pandemic who are just not comfortable ticketing a woman on a sidewalk for expressing her free speech.

These are cops who don't believe people in any house of worship should be arrested. These are cops deeply offended seeing a video of a 12-year-old boy on a scooter being pushed to the ground at a closed-down skate park.

And these cops have put their careers on the line to protect people's basic rights.

Meet Sgt. Julie Evans and Sgt. Greg Boltyansky of Toronto Police and York Regional Police Const. Christopher Vandenbos — three officers "loyal to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms" who are among 15 active police officers and four retirees taking the government and their police forces to court over being forced to participate in "unconstitutional" and "martial law" like lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, social distancing, and enforcement. The initiative stems from Police on Guard For Thee, which has hundreds of active and retired police officers advocating for the rights of Canadians.

"There are outright violations of people's rights," said Evans, a 20-year decorated detective. "It's criminalizing human behaviour of people who are not criminals."

But suddenly people expressing their freedoms at rallies, or wanting to play basketball, are in regular confrontations with police. These cops don't think these interactions are necessary.

"Going out and living their lives, to me, should not involve police going out and criminalizing that," said 17-year veteran Vandenbos.

A social media video of a York police officer threatening to ticket a crying woman who has lost her business is hard to watch.