Building a stronger relationship

Police, Somali community making progress together, study shows

Edmonton’s Somali community and its police service have not always been working from the same playbook. But that trend is slowly changing.

A study brought to the Edmonton Police Commission on Thursday suggests both police in the city and young Somali Edmontonians are interested in working with each other to tackle issues facing the Somali community.

“We interviewed and surveyed 301 young Somali Canadians in the city … 81 per cent of these young people identify that they are hoping to build a stronger relationship with EPS,” said Sandra Bucerius, associate professor of sociology at the University of Alberta, who was part of the team that did the study.

Researchers also spoke with 57 police officers of all ranks and all areas of the city except the southeast and found that police were also enthusiastic about learning more. The question is, what community should that education be focused on?

“Do we need training? Absolutely. But it becomes a bit exhaustive, too,” said Chief Rod Knecht.

The committee heard that, despite their willingness to learn about Edmonton’s smaller community groups, there are just too many groups to do that with and still do the job of policing.

The Somali community was the focus of the study because of ongoing concerns that peaked a decade ago when violent crimes in that community reached record levels.

It isn’t the first study done on the community, either. In 2014, the Somali Cultural Society produced another report with money from Alberta Justice that interviewed people who had lost loved ones or had been put in prison in connection to the violence. Some were still in prison while others had found success, graduating from college or university.

“There’s a lack of resources these days. But not acting has a higher cost than acting,” said the society’s president, Jibril Ibrahim, earlier this year.

The solution, said Bucerius, may lie in building one-on-one relationships between police and community members. “You build relationships with communities how you build relationships with any other person. You sit down, you talk, you listen to each other, you don’t go to people and tell them what’s best for them, you ask people what they need,” she said.

That process has already begun, said Bashir Ahmed, a Somali community member who attended the commission meeting. But he said there is still work ahead.

“We already started some discussions and building the relationship between the Somali community and the Edmonton Police Services,” Ahmed said. “They look at the Edmonton Police Service, the majority of the Somali community they see as their enemies.”

That may change if the service had more Somali Canadian members, something Knecht would like to see.

“I want the Edmonton Police Service to be reflective of the communities they police. Easy thing to say,” he said. “Tough thing to deliver on.”

That challenge isn’t just being dealt with in isolation. In hopes of connecting with the city’s growing urban aboriginal population, EPS held what it called a “safety summit” Wednesday at the Alberta Avenue Community League.

Along with city staff, REACH Edmonton and members of the Somali and indigenous communities, the event was held to improve safety in downtown neighbourhoods through a panel discussion and networking.

Do we need training? Absolutely.