Rebuilding trust won’t be easy for Ottawa police
Abdi’s death leaves us all shattered, Aisha Sherazi says.
For many black young people, the charges will change nothing. They will still feel targeted, because of their own negative experiences with police.
As the teen gets off his bus, Ottawa Police Const. Dinis Oliveira is there to meet him. The school has called the police after hearing rumours that a student has brought in a gun but has now left for home. Oliveira doesn’t know if it is a replica or real. He doesn’t know whether the teen has a reason to use it.
As the teen gets off the bus, he instantly spots Const. Oliveira. The young man panics and starts to pull out the gun in his bag. Who knows what he is thinking? Perhaps he wants to show the officer it’s a replica, it isn’t real. Perhaps he wants to drop it to the ground.
Oliveira must make a decision on the spot. Does he think the young man will fire at him or others? Or does he believe the weapon is a replica and that he can safely approach the young man? The constable does what all police officers are trained to do — if the situation permits. He talks first, and de-escalates the situation. His gun is pulled, but he will not shoot. He attempts to bring the situation to a calm end, through negotiation and communication.
This actual incident occurred in 2013 and ended safely, as the clear majority of such incidents do. All front-line officers face similar situations. Experience speaks volumes as to how an officer will respond to any given situation.
Last summer, tragedy struck Ottawa. Abdirahman Abdi, a 37-year-old Canadian-Somali man, died when police officers attempted to arrest him — very publicly, on his doorstep, in full view of neighbours and family. It transpired that he was known to people in the neighbourhood — mostly as a gentle person, but with mental health issues. The Special Investigations Unit is criminally charging one of the arresting officers, Const. Daniel Montsion, with manslaughter, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon.
For many black young people, the charges will change nothing. They will still feel targeted, because of their own negative experiences with police.
Luwam Kidane is a youth worker in Ottawa. She recalls a summer’s evening in Lowertown in 2011, when some kids attended a leadership program. Afterwards, they headed outdoors to do what most kids do: hang out and play ball in a caged court nearby. A police officer was parked in his vehicle. She recalls vividly the discomfort she and the kids felt when the gloved officer got out of his car, walked the distance of the court, then stood watching from behind the fence.
“The kids felt judged from a distance. There was no conflict. He simply stood and stared. Finally, I asked him if there was a problem. He said there wasn’t, and eventually got back into his car, but the damage was done.”
There were never going to be any winners in the outcome of the investigation into the death of Abdiraham Abdi. His family will always mourn his loss, and he will never return. The police depend on the community to help solve crime, and have worked hard over decades to build a relationship with the community. Trust is crucial to the work they do. That trust is fractured severely.
This incident has highlighted a variety of issues. The process itself needs to be made transparent, and the full SIU report should be public. Abdi’s family was not even given the results of his autopsy, but kept in the dark throughout. In addition, the time it took to get answers left the community to make assumptions about both the process and the results. The police were left frustrated, because they couldn’t speak to what happened.
Police-community relations are fragile, and communication and transparency will be key moving forward. In 2016, 95 per cent of the officers investigated by the SIU were not charged. The police will feel that this is because they are clearly professional. When events involving the death of a community member occur, trust breaks down. All stakeholders must now work together to build back the bridge that has been damaged.