tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/defund-police-88394/articlesdefund police – The Conversation2022-06-16T20:30:41Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1851872022-06-16T20:30:41Z2022-06-16T20:30:41ZStrip searches are ineffective, unnecessary and target racialized Canadians<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469239/original/file-20220616-22-7xkqbl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C41%2C4000%2C2616&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chief James Ramer of the Toronto Police Service speaks during a news conference releasing race-based data at police headquarters in Toronto.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/strip-searches-are-ineffective--unnecessary-and-target-racialized-canadians" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>With the Toronto Police Service’s release of race-based data on strip searches as part of its <a href="https://www.tps.ca/race-based-data-collection/2020-rbdc-findings/">Race and Identity-based Data Collection Strategy</a>, we can clearly see who it chooses to subject to strip searches. </p>
<p>We now know that, in 2020 — even though Black people make up around 10 per cent of the city’s population — <a href="https://data.torontopolice.on.ca/pages/race-based-data">one in every three people who were strip-searched are Black</a>. <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/06/15/9-key-findings-from-the-landmark-toronto-police-report-on-systemic-anti-black-discrimination.html">Nearly a third of all Indigenous people who were arrested were strip-searched</a>.</p>
<p>Not only does strip searching evoke <a href="https://cbr.cba.org/index.php/cbr/article/view/4714">racial and sexual trauma</a>, it’s also ineffective. It’s finally time to talk about ending this oppressive police practice.</p>
<h2>Strip searches are traumatic</h2>
<p>For the past 20 years, the courts and watchdog agencies have tried to regulate the way police conduct strip searches, with a mind to decrease the overall number of strip searches that they conduct. </p>
<p>In its landmark case on strip searches, <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1924/index.do"><em>R. v. Golden</em> (2001)</a>, the Supreme Court of Canada defined strip searches as a distinct type of “personal search,” contrasted against general, pat-down or frisk and cavity searches. The court defined the strip search as involving “the removal or rearrangement of some or all of the clothing of a person so as to permit a visual inspection of a person’s private areas, namely genitals, buttocks, breasts … or undergarments.” </p>
<p>In the Golden case, the court also acknowledged the basic intrusiveness of strip searches. They “represent a significant invasion of privacy” and are often a “humiliating, degrading and traumatic experience.” <a href="https://cbr.cba.org/index.php/cbr/article/view/4376/4369">Racialized people, as well as women</a>, can experience being strip searched as akin to a sexual assault. Incarcerated women also view their strip searches <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109919878274">as sexual assault</a>. </p>
<p>The Supreme Court also recognized that Black and Indigenous people suffer disproportionate harm due to the racial trauma associated with being strip searched. In the absence of statistics, the majority of the Supreme Court justices in the Golden case inferred that Black and Indigenous people are “likely to represent a disproportionate number of those who are arrested by police and subjected to personal searches, including strip searches.” </p>
<p>According to law professor <a href="https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/sclr/vol42/iss1/14">David Tanovich</a>, the court’s endorsement of this fact established an anti-racism principle in interpreting the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.</p>
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<img alt="A person holds up a sign reading Black Lives Matter outside Toronto police headquarters." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469267/original/file-20220616-22-obh3lq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469267/original/file-20220616-22-obh3lq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469267/original/file-20220616-22-obh3lq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469267/original/file-20220616-22-obh3lq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469267/original/file-20220616-22-obh3lq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469267/original/file-20220616-22-obh3lq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469267/original/file-20220616-22-obh3lq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters participate in a defund the police rally in front of Toronto Police Service headquarters in July 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Strip searches and systemic racism</h2>
<p>The Toronto Police Services’ race-based data collection’s focus on strip searches is due to the efforts of provincial watchdog agencies and lawmakers in bringing the police in Ontario into compliance with the law. </p>
<p>In its 2019 Report, <a href="https://www.oiprd.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/OIPRD_Breaking-the-Golden-Rule_Report_Accessible.pdf">“Breaking the Golden Rule: A Review of Police Strip Searches in Ontario,”</a> the Ontario Independent Police Review Director, an independent police watchdog, found that police in Ontario conduct “too many” unjustified and illegal strip searches.</p>
<p>Although the report didn’t delve into matters of systemic racism, the watchdog recommended that police services collect race-based data on strip searches as part of a broader police data collection project mandated by the province’s 2017 <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/17a15">Anti-Racism Act</a>. </p>
<h2>Why are strip searches needed?</h2>
<p>The justification that supposedly trumps the rights of individuals is that strip searches are necessary. But are they?</p>
<p>Under present law, an officer may search for weapons, evidence or anything that could cause injury and assist in a person’s escape.</p>
<p>According to the Toronto Police Service’s <a href="https://www.tps.ca/files/download/1650390689/42658/">procedures on searching people</a>, police officers are expected to conduct a frisk search before contemplating a strip search. The vast majority of items are recovered during these searches.</p>
<p>Additionally, during the booking process, the police routinely confiscate items like shoelaces and belts. The courts have criticized police forces in Ontario — <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2013/2013onsc1000/2013onsc1000.html">York Region</a> and <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/on/oncj/doc/2017/2017oncj439/2017oncj439.html">Quinte West</a> — for confiscating underwire and string brassieres as a matter of routine procedure.</p>
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<img alt="A Toronto police cruiser is seen parked in the middle of a road." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469263/original/file-20220616-13-vguq7w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469263/original/file-20220616-13-vguq7w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469263/original/file-20220616-13-vguq7w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469263/original/file-20220616-13-vguq7w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469263/original/file-20220616-13-vguq7w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469263/original/file-20220616-13-vguq7w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469263/original/file-20220616-13-vguq7w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Toronto police attend the scene of a collision.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The Breaking the Golden Rule report noted that Toronto police seized bras from a third of the women they arrested from 2016 to 2019. The forced removal of these items constitutes a strip search, and routine strip searches are not justified by law.</p>
<p>Taking into account the dragnet that police officers subject arrested people to, especially those who are brought into police custody, it’s not surprising there isn’t much left for them to find through a strip search.</p>
<h2>Items rarely found</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://tpsb.ca/jdownloads-categories?task=download.send&id=449&catid=27&m=0">May 2014</a>, the Toronto police chief at the time reported to the Police Services Board that only in two per cent of strip and cavity searches did police find any items, and only a fraction of those found objects posed a risk. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the Toronto Police Service does not offer descriptions of these items in the current <a href="https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiYjE4ZGNmZGYtMjEyZC00NjdhLWIxNGUtZWE1YTA0OGViYTJmIiwidCI6Ijg1MjljMjI1LWFjNDMtNDc0Yy04ZmI0LTBmNDA5NWFlOGQ1ZCIsImMiOjN9">race-based strip search dataset</a>, its <a href="https://data.torontopolice.on.ca/pages/open-data">open data portal</a> or its <a href="https://tpsb.ca/policies-by-laws/adequacy-policies?task=download.send&id=109&catid=4&m=0">annual reports</a> to the Toronto Police Service Board.</p>
<p>Given that police rarely discover dangerous items, is it really worth subjecting countless people to searches that are degrading, infringe constitutional rights and traumatizing to the Black and Indigenous people who are disproportionately searched? It’s time to end the practice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185187/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The article was completed with research from projects funded by York University, the Jack and Mae Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security, and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship.</span></em></p>Strip searching is a police practice that evokes racial and sexual trauma, and it’s also ineffective. It’s finally time to talk about ending this oppressive police practice.Monika Lemke, PhD Candidate, Socio-Legal Studies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1837842022-06-09T17:57:39Z2022-06-09T17:57:39ZThin-skinned blue line: Police fight against defunding, showing their true colours<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467791/original/file-20220608-219-magyim.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4630%2C3263&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A person holds a sign calling for to defund the police during an October 2020 protest in Ottawa after a police constable was acquitted of manslaughter in the 2016 death of a Black man, Abdirahman Abdi.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020 and the subsequent mass mobilizations for <a href="https://defundthepolice.org">police defunding and abolition</a>, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/07/us-cities-defund-police-transferring-money-community">defund movement has continued to organize</a>. </p>
<p>Has this work had an impact in Canada? Have there been <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/one-year-after-george-floyd-s-death-where-does-defund-the-police-stand-in-canada-1.5441519">successful challenges to reducing Canadian police budgets</a>?</p>
<p>The answer is complicated and depends on how you define success.</p>
<h2>Raised awareness</h2>
<p>Some argue the mobilization and movement-building that has transpired — people brought together in campaigns for police abolition that reimagine community safety — is a huge success in and of itself. <a href="https://pressprogress.ca/canadians-are-talking-about-defunding-the-police-heres-what-that-means-and-what-it-could-look-like/">Abolition has entered the public consciousness</a> <a href="https://defund.ca">like never before</a>.</p>
<p>Dozens of books have been published by academics, lawyers and activists, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/675803/becoming-abolitionists-by-derecka-purnell/">building on the work of Black feminists in the United States</a> <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/policing-black-lives">and Canada</a> who have long argued <a href="https://btlbooks.com/book/disarm-defund-dismantle">police perpetuate rather than reduce violence in our society</a>. </p>
<p>There have been some <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/07/us-cities-defund-police-transferring-money-community">modest successes in defunding police</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/edmonton-police-service-to-receive-10-9-million-less-than-expected-in-2022-funding-to-be-redirected-to-community-safety-initiatives">In Edmonton</a>, city council voted to cut the 2022 police budget increase by $10.9 million and reallocate the money to social services. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.halifax.ca/sites/default/files/documents/city-hall/boards-committees-commissions/220117bopc1021.pdf">In Halifax</a>, a subcommittee of the Halifax Board of Police Commissioners has tabled a detailed and carefully researched report to city council on how the local police force could be gradually detasked and defunded.</p>
<p>When one looks further, however, what becomes apparent is a serious and growing <a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/04/27/as-big-corporations-strike-a-pose-for-racial-justice-they-keep-on-funding-the-police/">counter-campaign</a>. It’s perhaps the strongest indication of the movement’s success at undermining the sanctity of police budgets until now.</p>
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<img alt="A boy holds a sign reading Police Lives Matter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467793/original/file-20220608-268-r3j100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467793/original/file-20220608-268-r3j100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467793/original/file-20220608-268-r3j100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467793/original/file-20220608-268-r3j100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467793/original/file-20220608-268-r3j100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467793/original/file-20220608-268-r3j100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467793/original/file-20220608-268-r3j100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A young boy shows his support for police during a rally in Utah in September 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)</span></span>
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<h2>Counter-tactics</h2>
<p>Police have fought vigorously against the defund movement <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/15/opinions/defunding-police-dangerous-crime-gagliano/index.html">through threats and false conceits of impending violence</a> if budgets are cut. They are co-opting calls for community safety, branding themselves as protectors in need of continuing or increased resources. They position themselves <a href="https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/the-myth-of-police-as-embattled-heroes">as innocent heroes under attack</a>, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article-abstract/62/1/90/6282889">and discredit those who critique them</a>. </p>
<p>One strategy police use is an offensive and personal tactic of removing people from positions of influence if they support police defunding. </p>
<p>When Winnipeg City Coun. Sherri Rollins critiqued police racism in March 2020, an informal complaint was lodged against her by the police board alleging she <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8791984/winnipeg-city-councillor-complaint-convoy-policing-criticism/">lacked compliance with the city’s respectful workplace policies</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1268898354336903171"}"></div></p>
<p>Similarly, in July 2020, another Winnipeg city councillor, Vivian Santos, discussed defunding and was ousted from the police board. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/vivian-santos-resigns-police-board-1.5649003">Police removed her on alleged security grounds</a> when background checks turned up a friend with a criminal record.</p>
<h2>Fear-mongering</h2>
<p>Scare tactics are another strategy. </p>
<p><a href="https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/winnipeg.police.service/viz/WPSCallsforServiceMap_10Week/Disclaimer">According to their own data</a>, only eight to 10 per cent of calls to police involve violence. Despite acknowledging that a large proportion of the calls they receive <a href="https://www.halifax.ca/sites/default/files/documents/city-hall/boards-committees-commissions/220117bopc1021.pdf">might be better managed by other kinds of workers</a>, police maintain that reducing officers <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/defund-police-toronto-1.5598285">would be “naïve” and undermine community safety</a>.</p>
<p>But which community is the police keeping safe? Instead of <a href="https://whitebirdclinic.org/cahoots/">diverting funding to organizations with expertise in gender-based violence, anti-racism measures</a> and mental health, police are demanding and receiving record funds to triage these programs themselves. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridgetoday.ca/local-news/regional-police-to-receive-over-12m-in-funding-from-provincial-government-5278608">The Waterloo Region Police recently got a $12.3-million boost</a> to run mental-health interventions while community organizations are starved through austerity and struggle to keep their doors open. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/encampment-protest-arrests-condemned-1.6265735">In Hamilton, Ont.</a>, activists from the Defund the Police Hamilton Coalition supported homeless people who were harassed daily by police and eventually violently evicted from their encampments. </p>
<p>The coalition demanded city council reallocate resources from police towards permanent housing, prioritizing the needs of the community over criminalizing homeless people. The organization’s antidote to scare tactics is to focus on prevention and the fight to protect people over property.</p>
<h2>Police culture as social problem</h2>
<p>Police suggest ostensible reforms, such as unconscious bias training and body cameras, as a promise to change the “culture of policing.” <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10439460701718534">As criminologists have noted</a>, <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2426-the-end-of-policing">such reforms increase police funding without demonstrable change</a>, sidestepping the reality that <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/police-brutality/">policing is inherently violent</a>. </p>
<p>With growing attention to their record of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-year-end-police-shootings-1.6298888">extra-judicial killings</a>, systemic <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/432/SECU/Reports/RP11434998/securp06/securp06-e.pdf">racism and harassment in their own forces</a> and their <a href="https://fafia-afai.org/en/a-report-on-the-toxic-culture-of-misogyny-racism-and-violence-in-the-rcmp/%20and%20https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/wam/media/4773/original/8032a32ad5dd014db5b135ce3753934d.pdf">failure to address gender-based violence</a>, police are on the defence.</p>
<p>Take, for example, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F10575677221082070">aggressive response to criticism from police unions</a>. The police brass may have to mince their words when responding to politicians and the public, but <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azab043">police unions often reveal their true colours</a>.</p>
<p>In June 2020, the Regina Police Association defended a tweet suggesting that its cultural unit, which works with Indigenous people, would be the first to go should the police be defunded. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/regina-police-association-threatening-tweet-1.5607162">“Choose wisely,” it threatened</a>.</p>
<p>Also in June 2020, the Edmonton police chief similarly stated that defunding would <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/edmonton-police-chief-says-angry-voices-shouldnt-dominate-reform-discussion">harm diversity initiatives within policing</a>. This threat to the employment of Black and Indigenous officers positioned the police as a benevolent force in the struggle for racial justice, <a href="https://yellowheadinstitute.org/2020/08/10/an-indigenous-abolitionist-study-group-guide/">obfuscating the colonial foundation and systemic racism of policing</a>. </p>
<p>Yet the charge in Canada to defund the police is being led by Black and Indigenous leaders and is <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-half-of-all-women-inmates-are-indigenous/">explicitly focused on racial injustice in the criminal justice system</a>.</p>
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<img alt="A Black man stands on a skateboard among people sitting on a city street during a protest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467796/original/file-20220608-22-khnh3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467796/original/file-20220608-22-khnh3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467796/original/file-20220608-22-khnh3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467796/original/file-20220608-22-khnh3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467796/original/file-20220608-22-khnh3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467796/original/file-20220608-22-khnh3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467796/original/file-20220608-22-khnh3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thousands of people protest to defund the police in support of Black Lives Matter and social injustice in Toronto in June 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What decreases harm?</h2>
<p>The lack of “success” in police defunding is a sign of how vigorously police are fighting back, not a sign of a waning movement. </p>
<p>Over the past two years, police chiefs, police representatives and <a href="https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/parasitic-solidarity">police unions</a> have mobilized the public resources they have to fight against the defund movement. But <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7213811/defund-the-police-canada-ipsos-poll/">an Ipsos poll</a> found 50 per cent of Canadians under the age of 38 are interested in police defunding and abolition.</p>
<p><a href="https://btlbooks.com/book/disarm-defund-dismantle">Defunding the police is not radical or irrational</a>, contrary to what police might have the public believe. </p>
<p>What is radical and irrational is <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-canadian-cities-police-spending-ranges-from-one-10th-to-nearly-a/">continuing to spend 15 to 30 per cent of municipal budgets on public policing</a>. What is radical and irrational is continuing to use criminalization and criminal law to deal with social issues and interpersonal harms when we know that <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/21430892/defund-the-police-funding-abolish-george-floyd-breonna-taylor-daniel-prude">a punitive, carceral approach does not decrease harm or lead to more safety</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/07/over-past-60-years-more-spending-police-hasnt-necessarily-meant-less-crime/">in our neighbourhhoods</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, citizens need to think openly about ways to address harms in our communities and neighbourhoods and to <a href="http://www.socialjusticejournal.org/where-is-police-abolition-in-criminal-justice-studies/">reallocate funds from bloated police budgets</a> to <a href="https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/defund-the-police-means-re-fund-the-community">housing, mental health, addiction, employment, counselling, anti-violence education and more</a>. Then we might truly live in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-018-9400-4">a healthier, safer world</a>. </p>
<p>At a time when <a href="https://cwp-csp.ca/poverty/just-the-facts/">many people are struggling to make ends meet</a>, we must not let police tantrums get in the way of real safety and a <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003167914">fair share of resources for community and social development</a>. Nor can we accept the criminalization of poverty and inequality, which is the current alibi for how public police and the whole penal system stays in business.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183784/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shiri Pasternak receives funding from Social Science and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Walby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Has the defund the police movement had an impact in Canada? It depends on how you define success.Shiri Pasternak, Assistant Professor of Criminology, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityKevin Walby, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1437212020-08-04T19:26:11Z2020-08-04T19:26:11ZDefunding the police requires understanding what role policing plays in our society<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350632/original/file-20200731-16-17zj6zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3368&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protestors demonstrated against police brutality in Montréal, on June 7, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/e-9hPRf4Y5o">(Steve Daniel/Unsplash)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two contrasting perspectives have emerged in response to recent calls to “defund” police. One perspective — espoused by some activists on the political left — holds that policing is fatally broken, cannot be fixed through any reforms and ought to be cancelled outright through financial asphyxiation. The second perspective argues that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/defund-police-toronto-1.5598285">policing takes an outsized and unnecessary share of government budgets</a>, and organizes around reassigning cuts in police budget to social welfare services.</p>
<p>This latter perspective recognizes that in many police jurisdictions — particularly in the United States and Canada — a growing number of calls for emergency services relate to psychotic episodes, suicides, alcoholism, homelessness and other welfare-related checks. Police responses to these issues tend to produce devastating consequences: an earlier CBC investigation found that “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/police-mental-crisis-1.5623907">70 per cent of the people who died in police encounters struggled with mental health issues, substance abuse or both</a>.”</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/police-encounters-reveal-a-mental-health-system-in-distress-142264">Police encounters reveal a mental health system in distress</a>
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<h2>Limited public support for defunding police</h2>
<p>Public support for defunding police has been minimal despite the fact that police officers often spend a large part of their time on issues they are not suited to and that occasionally result in <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7096491/torontos-camh-police-mental-health-calls/">troubled citizens carted away in body bags</a>. This is fascinating, given the swift decision to defund and reimagine policing in some jurisdictions, <a href="https://www.startribune.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-plans-to-defund-minneapolis-police/571475412/">like Minneapolis, where George Floyd died at the hands of police</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350633/original/file-20200731-20-zotdzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Armed police in riot gear stand in formation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350633/original/file-20200731-20-zotdzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350633/original/file-20200731-20-zotdzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350633/original/file-20200731-20-zotdzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350633/original/file-20200731-20-zotdzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350633/original/file-20200731-20-zotdzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350633/original/file-20200731-20-zotdzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350633/original/file-20200731-20-zotdzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Protests against police brutality began in Minneapolis and spread globally.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/A3gXBmO0jaM">(munshots/Unsplash)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>A Pew Research Center survey conducted during global protests against police brutality finds that “<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/07/09/majority-of-public-favors-giving-civilians-the-power-to-sue-police-officers-for-misconduct/">73 per cent majority say that spending on their local police should stay about the same as it is now (42 per cent) or be increased from its current level (31 per cent)</a>.” There were racial disparities among the 4,708 adults surveyed: only 42 per cent of Black adults and 21 per cent of whites support reducing spending on police in their areas. People aged 50 and above were less likely to support reducing police funding.</p>
<p>Why is there limited public support for defunding police despite widespread activism? The answer partly lies in the failure to demystify police. </p>
<h2>Protect and serve</h2>
<p>Demystification is a deliberate attempt to make policing — an enigmatic and esoteric institution — into something more mundane. Through demystification, policing becomes ordinary and open to objective critique, which may assist in efforts to reimagine and defund police.</p>
<p>The non-response or negative institutional reactions to calls for defunding the police will continue until police and policing are demystified. The image of police as the defender of social order, assuming tremendous existential risks on behalf of society, has not been challenged. </p>
<p>And in Canada, police powers have increased in at least two provinces — Alberta and Saskatchewan — <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7145454/city-council-police-budget-change-task-force/">while some cities have adopted merely symbolic budget cuts</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/provincial-governments-are-setting-the-stage-for-more-violence-against-indigenous-peoples-and-their-lands-142155">Provincial governments are setting the stage for more violence against Indigenous Peoples and their lands</a>
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<h2>The nature of the task</h2>
<p>Police do not control crime. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480601005003002">The myth that they do is an established fact</a>, and yet, police organizations soldier on. What can be reasonably expected of police is to keep crime to a level where social life can proceed with minimal unpredictability. </p>
<p>Appearance of order is therefore the real task of policing, which has led to an accumulation of tremendous power over time. As the expression of state force and priorities, police officers maintain a level of power not accorded to elected officials. For instance, a mayor in a liberal democratic state caught slapping a constituent on cell phone video is unlikely to keep their seat. Yet two or more fully armed police officers may beat a handcuffed citizen and go unpunished.</p>
<p>The police have become a quintessential “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/229456">permanently failing organization</a>,” focusing on survival rather than performance. As such, defunding the police threatens their livelihood and erodes policing’s accumulated legitimacy.</p>
<h2>Exaggeration of risk</h2>
<p>American sociologist Peter K. Manning observed over 40 years ago that “<a href="http://doi.org/10.2307/2392375">policing was a masterful costume drama, a presentation of ordering and mannered civility that was also dirty work</a>.” Police occupational culture is full of ritualism and symbolism to enhance the social status of an institution, which largely requires Grade 12 level education and <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/2020/06/11/ex-cop-academy-training-falls-short-police-need-extensive-education/5342917002/">provides six-month training for new recruits in Canada and the U.S.</a></p>
<p>My collaborative research on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0731129X.2016.1204716">the use of conducted energy weapons — Tasers — by police</a> demonstrates that such accoutrements largely perform a symbolic function. The use of these weapons are more to bolster a police organization’s claim to being modern or progressive. </p>
<p>Besides, despite years of much-trumpeted “community policing,” most police departments have remained <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2352(01)00102-7">largely unchanged in their mode of operation</a>. Community policing was adopted as a trend and to access additional funding.</p>
<p>The dramatization extends to the level of risk encountered by police officers. Policing is presented as an uber-risky occupation. It is. However, <a href="https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/1288">policing does not come near the top of the most dangerous occupations</a> in Canada and the U.S. Research shows that taxi drivers face far more risks than police officers. So do coal miners, long-haul truck drivers and timber cutters. </p>
<p>The exaggeration of policing risk portrays police officers as self-sacrificing, communitarian and selfless occupational specialists. The exaggeration of risk fosters occupational credibility, camaraderie and serves as a recruitment tool. It de-emphasizes the fact that policing in Canada and most parts of the U.S. is an incredibly well-paying occupation relative to qualification and length of training. </p>
<p>Rookie officers in <a href="https://joinvpd.ca/police-officers/">Vancouver</a> and <a href="https://www.joineps.ca/AboutEPS/PolicingisaRewardingCareer">Edmonton</a> earn over $65,000 per year. </p>
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<h2>Adversarial relationship</h2>
<p>Maintaining an adversarial relationship with the public is an “occupational tenet” of policing, as Manning pointed out decades ago. This concerns relatively powerless segments of society — <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.53.1.1">young people and minorities, particularly males</a>. </p>
<p>The adversarial relationship is crucial as it presents incontrovertible evidence of breakdown of order. Evidence of looting, arson or other forms of violence during protests only advance the course of granting police more powers and funding. This is directly linked to government’s aversion to any sign of disorder in psychologically fragile societies.</p>
<p>Defunding police is unlikely to occur without public awareness of the issues discussed above. Defunding police cannot happen without curtailing the activities of <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-police-union-power-helped-increase-abuses">police unions</a>, which have become a powerful “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2014.989156">institutional sovereigns</a>” concerned with maintaining legitimacy.</p>
<p>Policing needs to be treated like any other job to monitor performance and end human rights abuses. Entry requirements should be more stringent, with extremely patriotic and action-oriented prospective recruits encouraged to join the military. Policing allows for class mobility and should be reserved for professionally inclined individuals who will treat citizens as clients rather than moral failures. </p>
<p>Demystification of police is necessary before any major reforms can occur, and requires understanding the realities of how the occupation legitimizes itself. There is no contradiction in recognizing the significance of policing and holding police officers to standards routinely expected of other professionals in society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143721/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Temitope Oriola and his research team received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for a study on use of conducted energy weapons (CEWs) by police in Canada.</span></em></p>Around the world, policing — as an institution — is being challenged. But calls to defund the police will fall short if they do not address the history of policing.Temitope Oriola, Associate Professor, Sociology, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1404132020-06-11T19:40:15Z2020-06-11T19:40:15ZA better future: How to defund and reimagine policing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341229/original/file-20200611-80784-ni27zu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=57%2C63%2C4192%2C2758&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">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. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Taylor</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On May 25, social media erupted with the image of a Black man once again whispering “I can’t breathe” while under the knee of a white police officer for eight minutes and forty six seconds. George Floyd’s death sparked horror, outrage — and familiarity. </p>
<p>Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin looked directly into the camera lens as he demonstrated to the world the full weight of white supremacy and the its impunity. Now that impunity is being challenged in the streets and in city halls in a call to defund, disband and rethink policing as we know it. </p>
<p>Disbanding is complex and does not mean eliminating police. Just as the call to “defund police” does not mean taking all money away from police. Each of these calls requires action and action is what we are seeing.</p>
<p>Minneapolis city council committed to disband the Minneapolis Police Department. City council president Lisa Bender said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It is clear that our system of policing is not keeping our communities safe … Our efforts at incremental reform have failed, period.” [The plan is to] “end policing as we know it and <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7037660/george-floyd-minneapolis-police-councillors/">recreate systems that actually keep us safe</a>.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It does not mean the end of policing but rather an end to the Minneapolis Police in its current configuration. This has been done in California and New Jersey, with cities disbanding police departments and replacing them with new forces that <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/when-protesters-cry-defund-the-police-what-does-it-mean-1.4973460">cover entire counties.</a></p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341278/original/file-20200611-80774-jd07dy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341278/original/file-20200611-80774-jd07dy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341278/original/file-20200611-80774-jd07dy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341278/original/file-20200611-80774-jd07dy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341278/original/file-20200611-80774-jd07dy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341278/original/file-20200611-80774-jd07dy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341278/original/file-20200611-80774-jd07dy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A memorial to George Floyd.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Dylan Miner)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<p>There are currently at least four major calls to defund police forces in Canada including <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7037752/black-lives-matter-edmonton-defund-police/">in Edmonton</a>, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7039559/toronto-city-councillors-motion-defund-police-budget/">Toronto</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-defund-police-conversation-1.5600123">Ottawa</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/defund-regina-police-service-petition-1.5601462">Regina</a>. </p>
<h2>A brief history of defunding police</h2>
<p>What does it mean to defund the police? </p>
<p>For some, defunding means a total cut to budget and getting rid of police. This can be classified as an abolitionist movement. As U.S. sociologist Alex Vitale explains in his book, <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2426-the-end-of-policing"><em>The End of Policing</em></a>, many of those movements can be traced back to the 1960s and 1970s to the Black Panthers and others. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341081/original/file-20200611-114102-l29gw5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341081/original/file-20200611-114102-l29gw5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341081/original/file-20200611-114102-l29gw5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341081/original/file-20200611-114102-l29gw5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341081/original/file-20200611-114102-l29gw5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341081/original/file-20200611-114102-l29gw5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341081/original/file-20200611-114102-l29gw5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A protestor carries a sign calling for the Minneapolis Police Department to be defunded.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Koshu Kunii/Unsplash)</span></span>
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<p>Their <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2020/06/police-abolition-george-floyd/">call for community safety</a> was later taken up by others focused on prison abolition including Angela Davis. The call to abolish state violence and policing in exchange for direct democracy and mutual aid is the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/06/04/stop-blaming-everything-bad-anarchists/">foundation of anarchism</a>. </p>
<p>But for many others, the call to defund police is about defunding <em>parts</em> of policing. With that in mind, here are some places to rethink policing and police funding.</p>
<h2>Move police out of schools</h2>
<p>Kindergarten to Grade 12 students across North America have become accustomed to having police present at school through programming like school liaison officer, school resource officer or DARE programs (drug awareness). According to the American Civil Liberties Union, <a href="https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rulesforengagement/2019/03/17_million_students_attend_schools_with_police_but_no_counselors_new_data_show.html">1.7 million children in the U.S. attend a school with police present but without access to counsellors</a>.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341244/original/file-20200611-80770-mm2e3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341244/original/file-20200611-80770-mm2e3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341244/original/file-20200611-80770-mm2e3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341244/original/file-20200611-80770-mm2e3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341244/original/file-20200611-80770-mm2e3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341244/original/file-20200611-80770-mm2e3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341244/original/file-20200611-80770-mm2e3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The school-to-prison pipeline refers to education and public safety policies that push students into the criminal legal system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nyclu.org/en/issues/racial-justice/school-prison-pipeline">(ACLU)</a></span>
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<p>Police presence has been <a href="https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1782&context=facultypub">tied to the school-to-prison pipeline</a>. It can negatively affect the experience of students, as schools have incrementally and increasingly taken on prison-like practices at the expense of student learning. </p>
<p>Following in the footsteps of University of Minnesota and the Minneapolis Public Schools, many places should consider moving police out of educational spaces. </p>
<h2>The rise of the war cop</h2>
<p>In the U.S., the militarization of police is directly tied to a sweeping set of reforms passed in the 1990s that led to a rise in war tactics against communities. This included a rise in programs that <a href="https://www.aclu.org/report/war-comes-home-excessive-militarization-american-police">allowed police departments to receive war supplies</a>. </p>
<p>This trend was then followed in Canada <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/02/06/news/rcmp-begin-pre-dawn-raids-wetsuweten-land-defender-camps">as arsenals and tactics have been used against Indigenous land and water defenders</a>. Also, military tactics and SWAT response are often at the heart of new police practices during the execution of warrants. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rise-of-the-swat-team-routine-police-work-in-canada-is-now-militarized-90073">Rise of the SWAT team: Routine police work in Canada is now militarized</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In Louisville, Ky., a no-knock warrant led to the death of Breonna Taylor, an emergency medical technician. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/03/no-knock-warrant-breonna-taylor-was-illegal/">She was killed by police who raided her home in early March</a>.</p>
<p>A review of police budgets allows for insight into how local law enforcement position themselves to residents. For example, in Regina, Sask., municipal police were tired of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/armoured-vehicle-for-regina-police-on-city-council-s-agenda-1.4508359">“borrowing” a tank from the RCMP so they sought the funds to buy their own</a>. While there was resistance, this purchase was eventually approved. </p>
<p>Demilitarizing police comes first with taking away the arsenals they have acquired and then no longer funding the requests to enhance their arsenals. </p>
<h2>Budgets</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341069/original/file-20200611-114080-1agsjbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341069/original/file-20200611-114080-1agsjbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341069/original/file-20200611-114080-1agsjbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341069/original/file-20200611-114080-1agsjbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341069/original/file-20200611-114080-1agsjbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1340&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341069/original/file-20200611-114080-1agsjbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341069/original/file-20200611-114080-1agsjbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1340&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A police officer stands guard in New York’s Times Square.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Alec Favale/Unsplash)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In cities across North America, questions are being asked about how much money is spent on policing. <a href="https://labornotes.org/2020/06/its-way-past-time-redistribute-obscene-police-budgets-schools-hospitals-and-buses">In some bigger cities that amount could be as low as 25 per cent or upwards of 40 per cent</a> of an entire city budget. </p>
<p>In Canada, policing is paid for through a combination of federal, territorial and local budget lines. In nearly all cities, the municipal police budgets are handled through city hall. </p>
<p>A review of most city budgets will demonstrate that policing takes up much of the budget line. Most years, police request an increase to account for ongoing changes to operating costs. What if this year and in the years to come, people said no to an increase and redirected those funds to community initiatives instead? </p>
<p>This is change that is doable. It would allow for much-needed funding to be redirected to community organizations.</p>
<h2>A better future</h2>
<p>We are seeing a reckoning as street protests continue and charges are being laid against the officers involved. We are also seeing a transformation in how people think about policing. </p>
<p>Assumptions about the role of police are being challenged and dismantled. Included in the critique is an intersectional lens and the ongoing role of white supremacy in racialized policing practices and <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/policing-black-lives">policing Black lives</a>.</p>
<p>People are rethinking policing and what it means for all members of our communities to be supported and safe. In other words: another world is possible when we defund and reimagine policing as we know it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140413/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Stewart receives funding to support her research and community-based projects from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Canadian Institutes of Health Research as well as Public Safety Canada for projects focused on criminal justice reform with attention to reconciliation in the justice system. She works for the University of Regina. Her comments are her own but are grounded in evidence and lived experiences that honour the ongoing impact of systemic racism, broken treaties, and settler colonialism. </span></em></p>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.Michelle Stewart, Associate Professor of Gender, Religion and Critical Studies; Academic Director of the Community Research Unit, University of ReginaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1403062020-06-11T17:51:00Z2020-06-11T17:51:00Z99% of Ontario’s funding for community safety and well-being pads police budgets<p>In the aftermath of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/regis-korchinski-paquet-toronto-1.5593718">Regis Korchinski-Paquet’s tragic death</a>, Torontonians are asking their city councillors to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1745093699658">defund the Toronto Police Service</a>. But city council isn’t the only place to begin defunding the police; there’s also Queen’s Park.</p>
<p>While Toronto police’s budget is $1.07 billion, Ontario’s Ministry of the Solicitor General has made available another <a href="https://www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca/english/Policing/ProgramDevelopmentandGrants/GrantsandInitiatives/PSDPolicingGrantsRecipients2018.html">$200 million over four years in grants</a> to organizations across the province to support the provincial <a href="https://www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca/english/Publications/MCSCSSSOPlanningFramework.html#Section2">Community Safety and Well-being (CSWB) Strategy</a>. </p>
<p>Of this $200 million, 99 per cent ($199 million) goes directly to police forces on top of their annual budgets. City service providers and community organizations doing preventive work receive less than one per cent ($1.6 million).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340391/original/file-20200608-176550-5fm6e7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340391/original/file-20200608-176550-5fm6e7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340391/original/file-20200608-176550-5fm6e7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=150&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340391/original/file-20200608-176550-5fm6e7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=150&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340391/original/file-20200608-176550-5fm6e7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=150&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340391/original/file-20200608-176550-5fm6e7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340391/original/file-20200608-176550-5fm6e7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340391/original/file-20200608-176550-5fm6e7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Breakdown of provincial grants available for safety and well-being.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Data: Ministry of the Solicitor General</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rhetoric vs. reality</h2>
<p>The province’s policy recognizes that crime has systemic roots, prevention trumps enforcement and communities need other options when it comes to emergency response.</p>
<p>And yet, the spending patterns appear to contradict commitments to move away from “<a href="https://www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca/english/Publications/MCSCSSSOPlanningFramework.html#Section1">reactionary, incident-driven responses, refocusing investments towards the long-term benefits of social development and prevention</a>.” The province’s CSWB strategy acknowledges that many challenges, such as mental health crises, are better managed through a “<a href="https://www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca/english/Publications/MCSCSSSOPlanningFramework.html#Section1">collaborative service delivery model that leverages the strengths of partners in the community</a>,” instead of just the police. </p>
<p>That strategy is based on <a href="https://journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/article/view/38/74">academic research</a> that shows how investing in socio-economic development and addressing risk factors early can help reduce crime and violence. It is similar to public health planning, where <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22052182/">evidence consistently shows</a> that it is more effective and less expensive to address health issues before they result in a visit to the emergency room. But crime and violence command so much more political attention than the slow burn of poverty, structural violence and inequality.</p>
<h2>The 99 per cent</h2>
<p>In Toronto, the police received $55.4 million over four years (in addition to their billion-dollar budget). Only $360,775 was invested in organizations working to address the socio-economic roots of crime and violence in Toronto — that’s 0.7 per cent of the funding given to police. </p>
<p>To better understand what kinds of projects these provincial grants support in the Toronto police, I broke down the figures.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341030/original/file-20200610-34678-14a5n0e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341030/original/file-20200610-34678-14a5n0e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341030/original/file-20200610-34678-14a5n0e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341030/original/file-20200610-34678-14a5n0e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341030/original/file-20200610-34678-14a5n0e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341030/original/file-20200610-34678-14a5n0e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341030/original/file-20200610-34678-14a5n0e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341030/original/file-20200610-34678-14a5n0e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Breakdown of provincial community safety grants awarded to the Toronto Police Service.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Data: Ministry of the Solicitor General</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The province committed nearly $3 million to purchase conducted energy weapons, also known as Tasers, noting that they are “an appropriate use of force option” and that they aim to “achieve a zero-death goal in encounters with the public.” In fact, Tasers have been known to cause <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/new-stun-gun-changes-studied-by-oversight-group-1.947044">serious bodily harm and death</a>. It’s also hard to understand how they are an investment in prevention or social development. </p>
<p>The $30 million Public Safety Response Team grant is similarly reaction-oriented, focusing on “extreme event response, public order and search management, and critical infrastructure protection.” While community and neighbourhood officers might play a preventive role, it is difficult to make a similar argument for mobile smart devices ($8.3 million) or IT improvement and robotic processes automation ($7.1 million). </p>
<p>Only six non-police organizations in Toronto dedicated to community safety and well-being received provincial funding, amounting to $360,775 over four years. <a href="https://margarets.ca/">Margaret’s Housing and Community Support Services</a> received just under $70,000 even though it serves people who are at risk of coming into contact with the police due to poverty, mental health or addictions issues. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/10/30/why-healthy-neighbourhoods-not-police-are-the-antidote-to-gun-crime.html">There are many organizations in the GTA working to address and prevent violence</a> in their own communities with very little funding, like the <a href="http://zerogunviolence-movement.com/anti-gun-violence-activism-toronto">Zero Gun Violence Movement</a>, a coalition of over 40 community organizations addressing socio-economic and structural causes of violence. City programs like <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/public-safety-alerts/community-safety-programs/focus-toronto/">FOCUS Toronto</a> have significantly reduced reliance on police, but need well funded non-police services to succeed.</p>
<p>The Ministry of the Solicitor General did not answer directly when asked by e-mail if the province’s spending on the police reflected its aspirations for community safety. But it did say that it “encourages collaboration between police services and community organizations in the delivery of community safety initiatives.” </p>
<p>Encouraging collaboration is one thing. Actually funding it is another.</p>
<p>The fact that so little funding is available for non-police service providers is even more troubling because the new <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/s19001">Police Services Act</a> requires municipalities to design, implement (and fund) CSWB plans. Providing so much additional money to police and so little to other safety and well-being organizations means enforcement will overshadow prevention.</p>
<p>Providing $200 million over four years is not a huge amount when spread across Ontario, but it is also not insignificant — especially considering the shoestring budgets available to organizations doing vital work to address the socio-economic determinants of safety.</p>
<h2>Defunding as reinvestment</h2>
<p>At the core of calls to defund the police is a desire to reinvest in communities in ways that reduce our reliance on police. As police themselves often remind us, they are <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/police-training-mental-illness-deaths-1.3699664">not social workers</a> and the majority of the issues they deal with are not criminal in nature.</p>
<p>Provincial cuts to municipal budgets are expected to cost the City of Toronto about <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ford-government-cuts-will-blow-2-billion-hole-in-municipal-budgets-moody-s-warns-1.5191709">$178 million per year</a>, which means the city has far fewer resources available to municipal investments in prevention and social development work. The Social Development, Finance and Administration program, where Toronto’s CSWB Unit is located, experienced <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/8f3c-SDFA-2020-Public-Books.pdf">a 30 per cent reduction in funding from 2019 to 2020</a>. </p>
<p>Social services are overstretched, and there is a real discussion to be had about the contributions of other provincial ministries in funding preventive work. But as it stands, the Ministry of the Solicitor General has over $200 million available for safety and well-being initiatives, and $199 million of that is going to police forces that are already very well funded.</p>
<p>Defunding the police is a creative proposal. It asks how we can redirect existing money to fight the causes of harm in our society. The province already has a policy framework to guide reinvestment and some money to make it happen — in theory, things could move quickly. So write to your city councillor, but <a href="https://www.ola.org/en/members/current">don’t forget about your member of the provincial parliament</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140306/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Wilmot does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The provincial government has funding to support non-police safety and well-being initiatives — but 99 per cent of it just supplements police budgets.Claire Wilmot, PhD researcher, Department of gender studies, London School of Economics and Political ScienceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1403842020-06-10T19:50:41Z2020-06-10T19:50:41ZHow police departments can identify and oust killer cops<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340751/original/file-20200609-21196-a7wsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1900%2C90%2C3563%2C3383&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">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. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Ragan Clark)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The global condemnation of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/09/us/george-floyd-funeral-tuesday/index.html">the death of George Floyd,</a> one of the latest in a constellation of officer-involved deaths of unarmed civilians, has grown into a worldwide social movement for disbanding or defunding police. </p>
<p>At the far end of the debate, there are those calling for abolishing the police altogether. On the other hand, there are those wishing <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/06/us/what-is-defund-police-trnd/index.html">to defund the police</a>. This means shifting significant material resources from police departments to social services for issues such as mental health. </p>
<p>In cases of mental distress or welfare checks, for example, social service providers intervene rather than police, who have proven <a href="https://www.governing.com/topics/public-justice-safety/gov-mental-health-crisis-training-police.html">ill-equipped to deal with people in mental distress.</a> </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340750/original/file-20200609-21178-1kg4yi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340750/original/file-20200609-21178-1kg4yi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340750/original/file-20200609-21178-1kg4yi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340750/original/file-20200609-21178-1kg4yi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340750/original/file-20200609-21178-1kg4yi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340750/original/file-20200609-21178-1kg4yi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340750/original/file-20200609-21178-1kg4yi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters demonstrate against police brutality in Nairobi, Kenya, on June 8, 2020. The protest against police brutality in Kenya was in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Khalil Senosi)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is growing acknowledgment that the attitude of officers towards the human rights of suspects needs to change, as do the numbers of police-involved killings. The research on excessive use of force by police and the sociological context and psychological characteristics of killer cops point to useful policy measures.</p>
<h2>Psychological traits and screening</h2>
<p>Killer cops and those who routinely mistreat civilians tend to be action-oriented. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2015.04.007">Research suggests</a> that they are prone to boredom and suffer from major personality disorders. These include mood swings, impulsivity, lack of empathy, narcissism and anti-social personal disorder. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13052-017-0404-6">Many of these traits begin early in life</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340752/original/file-20200609-21219-140pbla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340752/original/file-20200609-21219-140pbla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340752/original/file-20200609-21219-140pbla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340752/original/file-20200609-21219-140pbla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340752/original/file-20200609-21219-140pbla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340752/original/file-20200609-21219-140pbla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340752/original/file-20200609-21219-140pbla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340752/original/file-20200609-21219-140pbla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Demonstrators march on Toronto Police Headquarters to protest the death of Sammy Yatim in Toronto in August 2013. Yatim was shot by police during a confrontation on a streetcar a month earlier.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Diversity workshops, training or cultural sensitivity have limited utility to help such officers. The primary solution is to not hire them in the first place. This speaks to the need for greater psychological screening by police organizations. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.torontopolice.on.ca/publications/files/reports/police_encounters_with_people_in_crisis_2014.pdf">A 2014 report by former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci</a>, submitted to Toronto Police Service following the death of Sammy Yatim in July 2013, calls for “screening out psychopathology and screening in for desirable traits such as emotional intelligence, empathy, tolerance of diversity, and patience.”</p>
<h2>Hire more women</h2>
<p>Women are less likely to support use of force than men. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.2015022">My collaborative research</a> in Alberta shows that women are less likely to support use of so-called less-than-lethal force options like conducted energy weapons. </p>
<p>The evidence in support of reducing deadly force by hiring more women in police departments is overwhelming. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2015.04.007">Female officers are less likely to use (excessive) force</a> as they deploy de-escalation techniques and engage verbally. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340753/original/file-20200609-21196-99b2a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340753/original/file-20200609-21196-99b2a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340753/original/file-20200609-21196-99b2a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340753/original/file-20200609-21196-99b2a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340753/original/file-20200609-21196-99b2a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340753/original/file-20200609-21196-99b2a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340753/original/file-20200609-21196-99b2a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340753/original/file-20200609-21196-99b2a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields, left, is seen speaking during a news conference in January 2018. Shields has been lauded for wading into a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters and listening to them, and for swiftly terminating police officers who assaulted demonstrators.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/David Goldman)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Police departments with a reasonable number of women tend to record lower levels of officer-involved killings. However, the number of women is important. Female officers in male-dominated police departments may exhibit hyper-masculine traits in an attempt to fit in. They may be just as brutal as men. </p>
<p>There is no agreement on what constitutes a reasonable number. A gender-balanced police service should be ultimate priority. I suggest a minimum threshold of 40 per cent female officers. </p>
<h2>University graduate-only officers</h2>
<p>Officers without university degrees <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2015.04.007">populate the ranks of killer cops</a>. Officers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0093854806290239">with university degrees</a> are more likely to request mental health support for suspects and demonstrate a higher appreciation for the complexity of social life, individual problems and subtleties of working in an increasingly diverse environment. </p>
<p>Officers with university degrees exhibit stronger verbal skills, effective communication and empathy. The Iacobucci report recommends recruiting officers from “specific educational programs” such as nursing and social work in order to foster “a compassionate response to people in crisis.”</p>
<h2>Ethno-racial diversity</h2>
<p>Evidence from the United States is less settled regarding racial characteristics of killer cops. However, most studies find that white, non-Hispanic officers are more likely to shoot or kill civilians. A few studies suggest Black officers are more likely to shoot and kill civilians. <a href="http://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz1429">These have been criticized for poor methodology</a>. </p>
<p>In Canada, most killer cops appear to be white men. An ethno-racially diverse police service is integral for <a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/04/ferguson_police_department_report.pdf">building public trust and inclusivity</a>. </p>
<h2>Training</h2>
<p>Much of the current training for many police organizations focuses <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/12/police-gun-shooting-training-ferguson/383681/">on deployment of lethal force or marksmanship.</a> That’s a waste of time and sets up officers for frustration given today’s realities. Once out of training, officers realize that people get meaninglessly drunk, abusers beat their spouses and citizens experience psychotic episodes. </p>
<p>Somehow, the police are required to respond to all these matters. These are in fact some of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F000271627843900156">the most common issues</a> brought to police attention. These scenarios may be frustrating for action-oriented officers. Action-oriented officers may see only moral failing in each case and respond with disdain and unnecessary force. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rise-of-the-swat-team-routine-police-work-in-canada-is-now-militarized-90073">Rise of the SWAT team: Routine police work in Canada is now militarized</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The professional officer will see “clients” in need of bureaucratic assistance and attempt to de-escalate. </p>
<p>There is a need to overhaul officer training and extend it to at least one full year of rigorous classroom engagement with human rights, mental health issues and diversity, among others.</p>
<h2>Accountability</h2>
<p>The main officer involved in George Floyd’s death <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/cop-accused-in-george-floyd-s-death-drew-17-complaints-earned-medal-for-valour-1.4968274">had 17 complaints in his file</a>. Three of those involved shootings, with one death. This is a poor disciplinary record. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340755/original/file-20200609-21208-63yv3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340755/original/file-20200609-21208-63yv3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340755/original/file-20200609-21208-63yv3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340755/original/file-20200609-21208-63yv3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340755/original/file-20200609-21208-63yv3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340755/original/file-20200609-21208-63yv3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340755/original/file-20200609-21208-63yv3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This May 31, 2020 photo provided by the Hennepin County Sheriff shows former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was arrested in the death of George Floyd.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Hennepin County Sheriff via AP)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Such officers make policing more difficult and dangerous. The Minneapolis Police Department bears responsibility for keeping such a person in service. </p>
<p>Undesirable people may sometimes enter into police service but must be promptly removed once their engagement with colleagues, superiors and the public begins to reflect certain troubling patterns. </p>
<p>The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) charged two officers in June 2020. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/rcmp-officers-charged-whitecourt-alberta-shooting-death-1.5603398">They were the first charges brought forward against officers by ASIRT</a> since its establishment in 2008. This is mind-boggling given incidents of excessive use of force in Alberta. Tolerating errant cops is dangerous for public trust.</p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>I propose a two-pronged policy — a “kill-and-go” policy and “three strikes policy” — for police accountability. </p>
<p>Kill-and-go means any officer who kills an unarmed civilian or a suspect who had a weapon but did not deploy it against an officer is dismissed from service and prosecuted. </p>
<p>The three strikes proposal is similar to the <a href="https://www.courts.ca.gov/20142.htm#:%7E:text=California's%20Three%20Strikes%20sentencing%20law%20was%20originally%20enacted%20in%201994,otherwise%20provided%20for%20the%20crime.">disused California anti-crime law of the same name</a>. Any officer involved in three excessive use-of-force incidents in which a civilian is mistreated and sustains injuries is automatically dismissed from service and prosecuted. There should be no expiry to each strike across an officer’s career.</p>
<p>Policing is also a well-paying occupation relative to entry qualifications and length of training, at least in Canada and many parts of the U.S. </p>
<p>The RCMP notes that <a href="https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/salary-and-benefits">the annual salary of a newly sworn-in officer is $53,144</a> and increases to $86,110 within 36 months of service. There are postdoctoral fellows working on life-saving biomedical research who make less than $50,000 a year, despite possessing hard-earned PhDs. The government and public should get value for the money spent on police by selecting appropriate people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140384/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Temitope Oriola's research team received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for the study.</span></em></p>Research on excessive use of force by police and the sociological context and psychological characteristics of killer cops point to useful policy measures.Temitope Oriola, Associate Professor, Sociology, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1400452020-06-10T17:16:43Z2020-06-10T17:16:43ZWhat it takes to record a Black person’s death<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340358/original/file-20200608-176560-7mk33e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=274%2C26%2C4068%2C2884&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Malaysia Hammond, 19, places flowers at a memorial mural for George Floyd at the corner of Chicago Avenue and 38th Street on May 31, 2020, in Minneapolis. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(John Minchillo/AP Photo)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On July 17, 2014, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/nyregion/eric-garner-case-death-daniel-pantaleo.html">Eric Garner’s murder by NYPD officers</a> was captured by Ramsey Orta on his mobile phone camera. Choked, handcuffed and pinned face down to the ground, Garner’s repeated calls for help, encapsulated by the phrase “I can’t breathe,” were ignored by the arresting officers.</p>
<p>Nearly six years later, the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police Department officers was recorded by Darnella Frazier, a young Black woman who captured the final moments of Floyd’s life on her mobile phone. Her video shows Floyd handcuffed with his head pinned underneath the knee of a police officer, repeatedly yelling, “I can’t breathe.”</p>
<p>Like Orta’s video, the footage that Frazier uploaded to Facebook has since gone viral. Used by many media outlets, Frazier’s video has led to <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/dc-george-floyd-protest/2316832/">public outrage and ongoing mass protests</a>. It also assisted in the decision to fire the four arresting police officers, and <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/03/george-floyd-death-charges-derek-chauvin-police/3134766001/">to subsequently charge</a> one with second-degree murder and the other three with aiding and abetting.</p>
<h2>Bearing direct and indirect witness to trauma</h2>
<p>Often forgotten in these far too common acts of police violence and fatal police-civilian encounters, involving unarmed Black people, is the dangerous, emotional and traumatic labour of bearing witness. </p>
<p>Following Garner’s death, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/13/18253848/eric-garner-footage-ramsey-orta-police-brutality-killing-safety">Orta’s life took a drastic turn for the worse</a>. From 2014 to 2016, Orta was arrested three times for a series of charges, which activists maintain stem from <a href="http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2020/apr/23/ramsey-orta-transferred-prison-infirmary-due-sickn/?page=2">retaliatory set-ups by the NYPD for filming the video</a>. Despite providing the footage that served as the <a href="http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2020/apr/23/ramsey-orta-transferred-prison-infirmary-due-sickn/?page=2">catalyst for the “I can’t breathe” slogan and movement</a>, Orta remains incarcerated to this day.</p>
<p>The day after Floyd’s death, Frazier returned to the scene of the killing, crying and emotionally distraught. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXKMih20Ur0&has_verified=1&bpctr=1591295910">In a video</a> that has been viewed nearly 2.5 million times, Frazier pleads, “They killed this man. And I was right there! I was like five feet away! It is so traumatizing.” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GXKMih20Ur0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Darnella Frazier, who recorded the death of George Floyd, describes the trauma of doing so.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If the emotional and traumatic consequences of bearing witness to Floyd’s killing were not enough, Frazier has also encountered online harassment for recording and posting the video. In the comments section of the video Frazier uploaded to Facebook, some have <a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/national/article243063836.html">chastised her for recording the footage without intervening</a>. Frazier comes to her own defence, writing: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I don’t expect anyone who wasn’t placed in my position to understand why and how I feel the way that I do. MIND YOU I am a minor! 17 years old, of course I’m not about to fight off a cop.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Attempts to diminish the profound effects of bearing witness to traumatic events aim to dismiss the notion of shared trauma. As literary critic Shoshana Felman and psychoanalyst Dori Laub argue, the listener or, in this case, the viewer, becomes “<a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203700327">a participant and co-owner of the traumatic event</a>.” In this sense, viewing the deaths of Garner and Floyd behind a screen can be different but equally traumatic experiences for both the person recording and for the viewer. </p>
<h2>The effects of bearing witness</h2>
<p>Viewing race-based trauma can be particularly traumatic for Black people for whom police violence is a <a href="https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2019-08-15/police-shootings-are-a-leading-cause-of-death-for-black-men">leading cause of death</a>. This realization is intensified by the danger that the mere <a href="https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/a-space-for-race-9780190858919?cc=us&lang=en&">occupation of public space</a> poses for Black lives. </p>
<p>In part, this stems from a refusal on behalf of white folks to recognize the <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/policing-black-lives">extensive history of race-based policing in both the United States and in Canada</a>. There is also a pressing need for white people to understand that <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/06/05/news/calls-defund-police-grow-torontos-mayor-not-buying">policing itself is a form of harm</a>, especially for people of colour. As writer and activist Desmond Cole reminds us, police violence committed against Black people is too often treated as a “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-june-1-2020-1.5592953/police-brutality-continually-treated-like-a-one-off-in-canada-says-desmond-cole-1.5592954">one off</a>.”</p>
<p>Some suggest that using mobile phone cameras to watch the police is a means of “<a href="https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/292">prevent[ing] police violence from being used against other community members or oneself</a>.” But given that <a href="https://theconversation.com/police-kill-about-3-men-per-day-in-the-us-according-to-new-study-100567">Black men are far more likely to be killed by police than white men</a>, bearing witness on camera as a form of cop-watching has not prevented further police violence from occurring. Instead, bearing witness involves race-based trauma that attempts to hold police accountable for the pain they have long inflicted against Black people and communities. </p>
<p>As writer Kia Gregory says, acts of police violence and deadly police-civilian encounters “<a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/153103/videos-police-brutality-traumatize-african-americans-undermine-search-justice">are so pervasive, they inflict a unique harm on viewers, particularly African Americans, who see themselves and those they love in these fatal encounters</a>.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340348/original/file-20200608-176542-1s94iko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340348/original/file-20200608-176542-1s94iko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340348/original/file-20200608-176542-1s94iko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340348/original/file-20200608-176542-1s94iko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340348/original/file-20200608-176542-1s94iko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340348/original/file-20200608-176542-1s94iko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340348/original/file-20200608-176542-1s94iko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A young boy holds a sign during a vigil demanding justice for Eric Garner.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(John Minchillo/AP)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The trauma of bearing witness extends from the person experiencing, recording or witnessing violent or fatal police encounters, to those who subsequently view and witness the recording through a digital medium, and most often <a href="http://eyewitnessmediahub.com/research/vicarious-trauma">through social media platforms</a>. Viewing such videos can induce <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.amepre.2014.09.013">stress, fear, frustration, anger and anxiety</a>. There is medical evidence to suggest that viewing footage of race-based trauma can lead to a physical ailments, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12251">including eating and sleeping disorders, high blood pressure and heart problems</a>. </p>
<p>Bearing witness to these acts of deadly police violence can be traumatizing for anyone. Keenly aware of the mental health toll that police violence and race-based trauma can take, a GoFundMe campaign has raised <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/peace-and-healing-for-darnella">nearly US$500,000 for Darnella Frazier’s “peace and healing.”</a> </p>
<p>For Black folks, in particular, the terrifying and everyday reality that they encounter at the hands of police is a trauma that endures long after the initial act of witnessing has occurred. It is a trauma that is relived and re-experienced not only in person but behind the screen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140045/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Constantine Gidaris receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>Recording and bearing witness to a Black person’s death from police violence is in itself traumatizing.Constantine Gidaris, PhD Candidate, English and Cultural Studies, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1400392020-06-08T20:12:03Z2020-06-08T20:12:03ZHow to understand police violence: Not a case of good cop vs. bad cop<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340356/original/file-20200608-176564-s9m79r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C82%2C4196%2C2795&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Anti-racism demonstrators take a knee near Toronto Police Headquarters during a march, June 6, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Amidst the grief, disbelief and justified outrage at the killing of African Americans, many people want to make sense of what appears to be senseless police mayhem and violence. The killing of George Floyd and other African Americans by police has led to civilian protests and outrage across the United States and around the world. The gaze has now turned to Canadian police.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/06/02/Canada-Race-Based-Violence/">Ontario Human Rights Commission</a>, Black Torontonians are 20 times more likely to be shot by police than the city’s white residents. Despite <a href="https://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/inquiries/ipperwash/policy_part/projects/pdf/AfricanCanadianClinicIpperwashProject_SIUStudybyScotWortley.pdf">numerous inquiries</a> and <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/royal-commission-on-inquiry-into-certain-activities-of-the-royal-canadian-mounted-police">commission</a> after <a href="http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/public-interest-inquiry-racial-profiling-and-discrimination-toronto-police-service/collective-impact-interim-report-inquiry-racial-profiling-and-racial-discrimination-black#Executive%20summary">commission</a> after <a href="http://www.ohrc.on.ca/it/node/23851">commission</a> into police violence over the years — many with strong recommendations for police reform — nothing changes. Why? </p>
<p>Universities, news media, Hollywood, politicians and economic elites continually drum into our heads that police “<a href="http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/">serve and protect</a>” — and so goes the police motto in Toronto. This narrative of police helps to fuel the fantasy that they are necessary in their present configuration. But whom and what police protect must be asked squarely. </p>
<h2>Thick bureaucracies</h2>
<p>Citizens, misunderstanding that they are the ones to be protected, have demanded increased professionalization. This has mainly contributed to an already existing tendency toward a thicker and more unresponsive bureaucracy. </p>
<p>Police are now an unprecedented powerful cultural and political force protected by <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/19/why-are-police-unions-blocking-reform">unions</a>, the <a href="http://www.abuseofpower.info/Culture_Brotherhood.htm">brotherhood</a>, police services acts, increased authority, lax prosecution and <a href="http://courts.mrsc.org/supreme/132wn2d/132wn2d0001.htm">a protective blanket offered by the courts</a>. The unfettered growth of so many branches of police raises <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/05/protests-washington-dc-federal-agents-law-enforcement-302551">legitimate concerns that we are in a police state</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340373/original/file-20200608-176554-f56cr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340373/original/file-20200608-176554-f56cr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340373/original/file-20200608-176554-f56cr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340373/original/file-20200608-176554-f56cr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340373/original/file-20200608-176554-f56cr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340373/original/file-20200608-176554-f56cr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340373/original/file-20200608-176554-f56cr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters gather in Toronto and hold signs to honour Black lives lost at the hands of police, on June 5, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Now is the time for people and groups to activate what the prominent sociologist <a href="https://www.gradesaver.com/the-sociological-imagination/study-guide/summary-chapter-1">C. Wright Mills called “the sociological imagination.”</a></p>
<p>In other words, we need to apply rational theory to explain the irrationality of the police, politicians and economic elites, given that capitalism is hardly rational. We need to pierce the bubble of ideologies that confuses the interests of the powerful as something good for all of society.</p>
<h2>How to apply rational theory to the police</h2>
<p>There is no good police versus bad police. The sociological imagination rejects personalizing explanations. Police are police; they are the states’ organ of repression. </p>
<p>In a social order that is based on social inequality, even the most benign and friendly cop is little more than an ideological prop to make us grateful that the state can be merciful and is your friend. Black people know otherwise.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340371/original/file-20200608-176575-oph3l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340371/original/file-20200608-176575-oph3l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340371/original/file-20200608-176575-oph3l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340371/original/file-20200608-176575-oph3l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340371/original/file-20200608-176575-oph3l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340371/original/file-20200608-176575-oph3l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340371/original/file-20200608-176575-oph3l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Toronto police officers take a knee during an anti-racism march in Toronto on June 6, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After getting past the ideological trap of good versus bad cop, the next step is to ask two fundamental questions in terms of what the police are for. Whom do the police serve? What do they protect in a colonialist and capitalist social order? </p>
<p>The first part of the question implies that police protect “us” from that abstract noun the state calls “crime.” Incidentally, in protecting us from crime, police are empowered by law to break the law. Basically, this is state lawlessness. </p>
<p>A contradiction? Absolutely! But how to explain it?</p>
<h2>Immunity from prosecution</h2>
<p>This contradiction is, however, absolutely explicable. Police in the U.S. have something called “<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/06/07/871713872/cory-booker-wants-to-end-qualified-immunity-for-police-officers">qualified immunity</a>” from prosecution. <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/world/us/2020/03/13/supreme-court-petitioned-on-police-officers-legal-immunity.html">In Canada</a>, <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/r-10/page-14.html">similar immunity laws exist</a>. Since the state protects its protectors, qualified immunity from prosecution is what often allows police to get away with murder – literally.</p>
<p>The legal justification for police violence is key to understand liberal democracies. In a capitalist social order, the principal function of police is to maintain the order of mal-distributions of private and productive property.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/thugs-is-a-race-code-word-that-fuels-anti-black-racism-100312">'Thugs’ is a race-code word that fuels anti-Black racism</a>
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<p>Without a domestic armed force, the economic, social and political power of the ruling class and elites would not be possible. The police defend the interests of the powerful, and those whose disorganization is their powerlessness. This is not unlike what American law designates <a href="https://www.justia.com/criminal/docs/rico/">Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO)</a> or, more simply, a <a href="http://globalization.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/files/2010/09/warmaking3.pdf">mafia</a>.</p>
<h2>A renewal of democracy</h2>
<p>Police violence has always been the spark for the periodic bubbling over of public discontent with colonialism, capitalism, racism inherent to social inequality. There are a myriad of better scenarios than the current one.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dear-white-people-wake-up-canada-is-racist-83124">Dear white people, wake up: Canada is racist</a>
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<p>The police must be defunded. We need a mix of citizens’ councils, Crown councils, courts and diminished roles for police and prisons as remedies for the problem of social inequality. Those citizens’ councils must not be co-opted and turned into an iron curtain of mass surveillance. </p>
<p>A new basis for social order is also required, such as a guaranteed basic income and democratic socialism. </p>
<p>This is all uncharted territory and there will be many unintended consequences. </p>
<p>Defunding, which means demobilizaion, could be a problem. As is the case in contemporary Mexico, Russia and elsewhere, former police and soldiers easily turn to armed brigandage, <a href="https://dawnpaley.ca/">join paramilitaries or narcos</a>. That might not happen here. </p>
<p>But given the last 40 years is increasingly dystopian and corruption already a serious problem in policing, nothing is to be ruled out.</p>
<p>Committing sociology is not about being right. It is about a frame of mind, of being open to critical interpretations and a way of asking questions about the dense fog of ideology that besets us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140039/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tamari Kitossa does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There is no good police versus bad police. Police are police. They are the states’ organ of repression. There are a myriad of better scenarios than the current one.Tamari Kitossa, Associate Professor, Sociology, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.