Groundwork for police reform already laid
Ottawa’s police chief, Peter Sloly, is no stranger to the crisis of distrust plaguing police departments throughout North America. He has tackled this distrust head- on since his days as deputy chief of the Toronto Police Service, and has been asked to do so again following a not guilty verdict for the officer accused of using excessive force in the death of Abdirahman Abdi, a Somali- Canadian who suffered from mental illness.
On Monday, Sloly was asked about the verdict. He remarked, “We are listening, learning and changing. We will support our service members and our community members through these changes.”
It was a refreshing response. These days, it’s rare to see someone talk about supporting cops and communities in the same sentence. But he is correct: we must remember that cops are part of our communities, and officers must treat us with the respect and courtesy owed to their neighbours.
The defund the police movement sweeping North America distracts from the reality that cops and communities need one another.
It creates further division by arguing that underserved communities in search of more resources must take those resources from police services, instead of turning to other sources of funding.
The defund the police movement also threatens to leave the most vulnerable populations in our society exposed. For instance, in Minneapolis, where George Floyd was killed, residents have taken to suing their municipal government over increases in crime because Minneapolis city council supports defunding the police. Homicide rates have also spiked in other cities, such as New York and Seattle, where politicians support defunding the police to appease Black Lives Matter activists.
Canadians need a way forward that addresses the crisis of distrust, without making things worse by emboldening reckless wannabe revolutionaries. Finding this way forward will require us to look back at the work done over the past several years by Black Canadians who have been trying to make a real difference.
Before the current moment of moral panic and social media- driven activism, many community leaders were working diligently to recommend better policies and practices to Canada’s three levels of government. It’s time for our governments to reconsider these recommendations.
For example, in 2018, Ontario Court of Appeal Judge Michael Tulloch authored an insightful report with dozens of recommendations that are relevant to police departments throughout North America. Drawing from his conversations with police officers and community groups, Tulloch offered specific ways that police training could be improved by “involving experienced front- line officers” and “members of racialized communities and Indigenous peoples.” Such an approach would facilitate constructive police- community relationships and create realistic training scenarios for officers.
Also in 2018, the Justice for Abdirahman Coalition in Ottawa offered a series of thoughtful recommendations for increased police accountability, specifically asking that chiefs of police be given the power to suspend officers accused or convicted of criminal conduct without pay.
This is not an anti- police idea; rather, the coalition advocated for more authority to be granted to police chiefs to hold officers accountable “in cases where the police officer is accused of a serious crime such as manslaughter or murder.” Such changes would show more trust in police chiefs as leaders who can identify which officers she or he trusts to work collaboratively with the communities they serve.
A year prior, in 2017, Toronto’s then- police chief Mark Saunders addressed the matter of growing police budgets. Saunders led a comprehensive, discerning effort to identify cost savings and efficiencies. He concluded that with new technology and other modernization reforms, the force could eventually save up to $ 130 million. This effort was thwarted by increases in gun violence that led to the public demanding more cops on the street. However, Saunders showed that a constructive dialogue could be had about police budgets without resorting to “defunding” or other anti-police measures.
Police reform doesn’t require buying into a suite of radical or Marxist ideas, as many activists and academics would have you believe. Serious, realistic recommendations are available for anyone who wants to increase accountability and transparency. Blueprints are out there for how we can strengthen the connections between cops and communities, instead of pulling them further apart. We must look back in order to move ahead.