Advocates insist policing the pandemic will put marginalized communities at risk

Advocates are warning that granting police sweeping new powers in response to the COVID-19 crisis could be used to target marginalized communities.

As the novel coronavirus continues to spread despite lockdowns and physical distancing measures, officials at all levels of government have deputized law enforcement to put some teeth into public health orders.

Police in jurisdictions across the country have arrested and charged people for allegedly defying self-isolation rules or limits on public gatherings and movement. Penalties for certain violations can be as severe as six-figure fines and imprisonment.

A police advocate says forces are focusing on educating the public about COVID-19 compliance, and officers have been told to only pull out the handcuffs as a “last resort.”

But as some leaders warn people to stay at home or face more severe strictures, activists and academics argue that trying to police the pandemic poses its own public-health risks.

“With any kind of pandemic, what happens is it reveals existing forms of social marginalization,” said sociologist Alexander

McClelland, who studies the policing of infectious diseases.

“While the police say that they’re tasked with protecting the public, that’s only a certain public that they’re protecting, and they actually target and marginalize systematically certain communities across Canada.”

The University of Ottawa postdoctoral fellow said police aren’t trained to engage in the complex social issues involved in a pandemic, and often, foster a “climate of fear” that brings prejudices to the fore.

McClelland said people who flout publichealth protocols rarely do so with the intention of putting others at risk.

Rather, he said, many break the rules because they don’t understand them, or they have no other choice.