False warnings from police don’t build trust

Force should end its silence on traffic warnings scandal

One of the awkward things about Ottawa police officers being investigated for falsifying traffic warnings is that it’s the sort of behaviour many folks figure is going on — torquing stats to hit quotas and all that — but they give the police the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it wouldn’t be out of place on TV, but surely not in the real world.

And yet, here we are, with around 20 officers under investigation by the professional-services branch.

Now, the false tickets aren’t tickets, per se; there’s no fine attached. But the number of warnings are tracked, and they’re used for promotions within the service.

Two officers have been suspended, though they are still getting paid. Chief Charles Bordeleau isn’t going to comment on the investigation. That’s not quite good enough. Police officers occupy a special station in society. They can do many things we can’t: carry guns, arrest people, and speak with the authority and power of the state. For all that, plus the major downsides of the job, dealing with the worst and most heartbreaking moments in society, they’re compensated handsomely. In some ways, the only thing we, their employers, ask in return is that they respect the solemnity of the office and the rights of citizens.

And when that trust is broken, we have a problem.

Policing, the conventional wisdom goes, matters even when it’s about the most minor events. Think of it as the reverse of broken-windows policing: If cleaning up graffiti helps stamp out lawlessness more generally (it’s worth noting just how debatable this whole proposition is), then falsifying traffic warnings corrodes the trust people have in the police. Minor sorts of misbehaviour matter, not just instances of police brutality or excessive force.

Put it this way: When you next get pulled over, how are you to know that it’s not all a ruse? The investigations, at this point, raise far more questions than they answer. Corruption and graft call into question, justifiably or not, the other work police officers do.

So how exactly is the chief going to reassure the people of Ottawa that there isn’t something rotten in traffic enforcement?

A spokesman for the police declined to answer questions about the traffic unit or the investigation, and said that while Bordeleau had been clear that nothing would be said until the investigation was completed, the force will “look at everything.” That’s good, because they should. Though, perhaps the investigation should be turned over to an external police force, to remove even the hint of suspicion that things aren’t above board. Policing, fundamentally, depends on trust. Canadians, and Ottawans, need to know that they can trust the police. This is particularly critical when it comes to, for example, sexual assault cases, where there are reports of callous treatment by police. Any little deviation from the standards we expect from police harms the perception that officers can be trusted.

Police should worry about how this affects their ability to work. Surely investigations become harder if people are skeptical about their police. When people refuse to speak with police, often there are other reasons for that, but is there a trust factor there?

For these reasons, it’s critical that the force answer questions about this investigation and put to rest speculation that’s out there, allay concerns and prove to the public that this sort of thing will be stamped out, those who’ve done it thoroughly punished and that trust in the force can be maintained.