UNWRITTEN CODE THAT PROTECTS BAD COPS MUST END
Floyd incident underlines how police forces can no longer operate with impunity
There is a code within police forces the world over: No matter what happens, protect one another and don’t question your superiors.
That code contributed to the choking death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn., on May 25 that has sparked protests against police brutality and racism in the U.S., Canada and all over the world.
Floyd, 46, was killed when Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed face down on the street, saying at least 16 times, “I can’t breathe.” The videos of the public execution involving four armed police officers against one prone, unarmed and handcuffed Black man is agonizing to watch.
The worldwide outrage appears to be making a difference. Minneapolis will ban police from using choke holds — something Calgary and many other police services have already done — and a debate about defending the police is underway.
Calgary Police Service Const. Kim Prodaniuk says the toxic culture within police services has to change. She filed an affidavit June 2 at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Calgary related to the years of sexual harassment and intimidation she says she suffered during her almost 12 years working for the CPS. The affidavit is supplementary to an amended statement of claim in which Prodaniuk is suing the CPS, the chief of police, the Calgary Police Association and the City of Calgary. Her allegations have not been tested in court.
Prodaniuk has been on stress leave from the CPS since March 17, 2017.
“What happened to George Floyd is absolutely horrific, and in my opinion a violent police culture bleeds violence into the community,” Prodaniuk said from her Springbank home.
“I definitely didn’t sign up to be a police officer to protect the organization, I signed up to protect people who need help, and the police have veered so far off course from that it’s turned into a crisis in society,” she said.
“They do it to their own and they do it to the community, and people have had absolutely enough of it. I’m so incredibly encouraged by, and proud of, the Black Lives Matter movement and seeing everybody unite.”
It’s Prodaniuk’s hope that from now on, those who blow the whistle on discreditable conduct within any police service might actually prevent bad officers from continuing their careers rather than hinder the careers of those who complain, and that in turn might save the lives of people like Floyd.
During her tenure with the CPS, Prodaniuk says she was twice forced to fake an orgasm in public in order to pass a course for career advancement, and was allegedly asked by a superior officer in a police van: “So, tell me about the best (oral sex) you’ve ever given?” Her affidavit has 38 pages of detailed allegations of harassment against her, and another 94 pages of supporting documentation showing that while she was being harassed by colleagues she exemplified professionalism and was being commended by the public and superiors. Some of the allegations she makes were witnessed by multiple people.
When she complained about sexual harassment, nothing happened to those she complained about. She, however, was transferred out of where she was working, something she calls “disguised discipline.”
Police, by the very nature of the power vested in each member — not just by the firepower they carry on their hip but through their right to use it — should be held to a higher standard of accountability than the average citizen. Instead, as history shows, they are held to a much lower standard than the rest of society. They remain virtually unaccountable, and that must end. Were it not for how ubiquitous cameras and video have become as a result of the near universality of smartphones, lies that have protected police from their own acts of brutality, baseness and discreditable conduct are no longer believed. The police version of violent incidents doesn’t always match a video released after the fact, as proven by the killing of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver’s International Airport in 2007.
There is a crisis of confidence in policing the world over because bad officers have been allowed to act with impunity, and those who speak out against them within the organization are labelled “rats” — as Prodaniuk was — and face toxic repercussions at work and to their career advancement as a result. A much better job of weeding out recruits is essential if policing is to improve. Those who want to become police officers to wield power over others — rather than to serve and protect — need to be identified and removed from consideration.
There are good and bad people in every organization — and there are many good police officers — but when there are bad people within a police service the potential harm to individuals and society is simply intolerable. There is nothing more one-sided. Floyd’s death — and the deaths of so many others at the hands of police for no valid reason — is merely one example of this dangerous imbalance.
The time for police to hold all the power with the state backing them must end. The time is also long past for true civilian oversight of the police. Police commissions have become little more than police fan clubs. The idea that only police can investigate police following a serious incident is absurd. There are many people who are capable of conducting complex investigations.
In her affidavit, Prodaniuk states: “Any form of debate, legitimate or not, with a higher rank is poorly received within the
CPS organization. The phrase ‘you can run but you can’t hide’ describes a situation where a subordinate officer has acted in a way that a higher ranking officer feels is defiant.”
At long last, it appears that police forces around the world are the ones that can’t hide. Change is upon us. It’s time to break the code.