Floyd death sees police revisit policies, equipment
A growing push to defund police or cut their funding in the wake of the death of George Floyd and the growing worldwide scrutiny of policing has led the Saskatoon Police Service to evaluate its own programs and community response.
“I think that’s a discussion that’s going to be taking place over the next coming weeks. I think that people have recognized that change must be made, but they, I think, haven’t arrived yet at what that change should be,” Chief Troy Cooper told the Starphoenix on Monday.
Cooper said Saskatoon police evaluate their involvement in programs to make sure they’re not stepping into areas where another service in the community would
be more appropriate. They’re also taking steps toward equipping officers with body-worn cameras and will buy digital evidence management software this year for storing data from equipment police already use, he said.
Next year, the police force will choose a body-worn camera model to pilot and develop a policy around their use, Cooper said.
The Saskatchewan Police Commission, which develops provincial standards for municipal police, does not have an official policy for body cameras, but is aware of discussions about this and “larger discussions taking place around policing,” which it will discuss with its partners, according to an emailed statement provided on behalf of the commission.
Calls to defund police and to equip them with body-worn cameras have grown out of the movement spurred by the violent death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who was pinned to the ground by the neck by a white Minneapolis police officer; the incident was captured on a bystander’s video recording. Floyd pleaded for his life, saying “I can’t breathe,” while he was pinned for eight minutes and 45 seconds.
Derek Chauvin was fired by the Minneapolis police and is charged with second-degree murder. Three other officers at the scene are charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
“When we see this sort of behaviour, it’s a reminder ... of how fragile the public trust is and how important it is to us and how easily it’s lost when there’s misconduct. But these were not just examples of misconduct, these were really egregious, really criminal acts that we’ve been witnessing and it’s shocking to us,” Cooper said.
He calls the discussion around defunding a “welcome” one, but said Canada is starting from a different place than the U.S., where there is a higher concentration of police officers in communities and the “War on Drugs” led to severe penalties for people who use drugs, hurting people with addictions and marginalized communities.
Saskatoon board of police commissioners chair Darlene Brander said she’s sure a conversation about defunding will happen at the police board table.
The commission issued a statement on Monday, denouncing racism and voicing support for the peaceful demonstrations in Saskatoon.
“With Saskatoon police, they’re already, within their strategies, dealing with and working with community-led organizations,” Brander said.
Policing expenditures topped $106 million (actual) in Saskatoon last year and are projected to increase over the next two years to $110,431,100 in 2020 and $114,776,900 in 2021.
When asked, Cooper said that’s too early to consider reductions in the police budget.
“When we talk about defunding the police and the discussions we do have here, it’s when we do develop an understanding of a community need, we look to see who is the most appropriate community response to that. This is something we’ve done for a number of years,” he said.
Premier Scott Moe said the province hasn’t considered defunding police services. He said provincial officials have been listening to the concerns of people attending the rallies.
“To my knowledge, that discussion isn’t occurring as of yet; it is new to me that the municipal police forces and the mayors are having that discussion, but we’re open to any discussion with our partners,” Moe said.