Chief James Ramer of the Toronto Police Service speaks during a news conference releasing race-based data at police headquarters in Toronto.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin
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.
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.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Has the defund the police movement had an impact in Canada? It depends on how you define success.
A photo from a demonstration calling for police accountability and an end to police brutality in Vancouver, in May 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
The large budgets allotted for urban policing must be reconsidered so that communities can explore safer alternatives.
Rethinking what we mean by police sustainability, how we measure it and how we hold the police accountable for outcomes, may create the opening for a more viable path to reform.
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The continued reliance on outdated indicators of police performance reinforce conventional ideas of police sustainability rather than align with the concerns of “defund the police” advocates.
Precincts around where George Floyd was killed voted in favor of disbanding the Minneapolis Police Department.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Minneapolis residents voted 56% to 44% against an amendment that would have transformed the city’s police. The reasons they did so are complicated, an expert writes.
A big driver of rising police pay across the United States is overtime for managing protests, political rallies and other public events.
Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty
Despite growing public criticism over how much counties, cities and towns spend on policing, many are increasing officer pay.
People cheer after a guilty verdict was announced at the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin for the 2020 death of George Floyd.
(AP Photo/Morry Gash)
In the wake of the conviction of the police officer who killed George Floyd, recent court decisions against what’s known as “qualified immunity” are promising.
Police in riot gear line up against protesters during clashes in Kenosha, Wis., in August 2020 following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, two days earlier.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)
We need to clarify the role of the police, to promote a more justice-oriented style of police leadership and to put in place long-term mechanisms of accountability to support and sustain change.
On Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, it’s time to challenge the revictimization of victims of domestic violence by aggressive police action.
Police in riot gear stand in a line against protesters next to a message spay painted on the Kenosha County Courthouse in August 2020 after the police shooting of unarmed Black man Jacob Blake.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)
In the absence of serious efforts by mental health centres, shelters and youth group homes to prevent people from running away from their facilities in the first place, police involvement is necessary.
Protesters in front of Boston Police Headquarters during a United Against Racist Police Terror Rally on June 7, 2020.
Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Across the United States, police are shielded from both public and departmental accountability by multiple layers of contractual and legislative protections.
There are currently at least four major calls to defund police forces in Canada. Here, hundreds of people participate in a Black Lives Matter demonstration in front of Saskatchewan’s Legislative Building in Regina on June 2, 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Taylor
Another world is possible when we defund and reimagine policing as we know it. A review of police budgets could mean more money towards community initiatives.
Calls to ‘defund the police’ are growing across the US.
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Iraq, Guatemala and the autonomous region of Bougainville have all tried to demilitarise their police forces – with varying degrees of success.
Protesters march on June 6, 2020, in New York. Demonstrations continue across the United States in protest of racism and police brutality, sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.
(AP Photo/Ragan Clark)
Research on excessive use of force by police and the sociological context and psychological characteristics of killer cops point to useful policy measures.
The call to defund the police forces us to reconsider our priorities: more police and prisons or investments in social housing, mental health services, domestic violence and family support programs?