On Canada's National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, it's time to challenge the revictimization of victims of domestic violence by aggressive police action.
Police in riot gear stand in a line against protesters next to a message spay painted on the Kenosha County Courthouse in August 2020 after the police shooting of unarmed Black man Jacob Blake.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)
In the absence of serious efforts by mental health centres, shelters and youth group homes to prevent people from running away from their facilities in the first place, police involvement is necessary.
Protesters in front of Boston Police Headquarters during a United Against Racist Police Terror Rally on June 7, 2020.
Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Across the United States, police are shielded from both public and departmental accountability by multiple layers of contractual and legislative protections.
There are currently at least four major calls to defund police forces in Canada. Here, hundreds of people participate in a Black Lives Matter demonstration in front of Saskatchewan’s Legislative Building in Regina on June 2, 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Taylor
Another world is possible when we defund and reimagine policing as we know it. A review of police budgets could mean more money towards community initiatives.
Calls to ‘defund the police’ are growing across the US.
hkalkan via Shutterstock
Iraq, Guatemala and the autonomous region of Bougainville have all tried to demilitarise their police forces – with varying degrees of success.
Protesters march on June 6, 2020, in New York. Demonstrations continue across the United States in protest of racism and police brutality, sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.
(AP Photo/Ragan Clark)
Research on excessive use of force by police and the sociological context and psychological characteristics of killer cops point to useful policy measures.
The call to defund the police forces us to reconsider our priorities: more police and prisons or investments in social housing, mental health services, domestic violence and family support programs?