Training cops for today’s role
In the summer of 2020, Finnish newspapers reported what was, to the Finns, a disturbing trend: According to a survey conducted by Finland’s Police University College, trust in the police was “slipping.” Only 91 per cent of Finns trusted the police a lot or a fair amount, down from 95 per cent in 2018.
In contrast, Statistics Canada reports that in 2019, only 41 per cent of Canadians had “a great deal” of confidence in the cops, although another 49 per cent of Canadians had “some” confidence. However, members of visible minority groups, people with physical or mental disabilities and victims of crime all expressed much lower levels of confidence.
Canada doesn’t fare quite as well as Finland, and one reason for that is probably the country’s Police University College. Finnish police officers complete a three-year, research-intensive university degree in policing before going on patrol, while most Canadian cops spend only a few months at police college.
That’s something to consider as Ontario recently suggested, in a short-sighted effort to forestall dropping recruitment numbers, that it would no longer pursue a planned post-secondary education mandate as a prerequisite to policing. Certainly, attending university is no guarantee of virtue, but traditional police training, with its paramilitary ethos, is ill-suited to preparing officers for the demands of a diverse, knowledge-based society.
That was the conclusion of Nova Scotia’s Mass Casualty Commission, which endorsed the Finnish model, and before it, the report on sexual harassment in the RCMP prepared by former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Michel Bastarache.
Both reports suggest not that a general liberal arts education is necessary, but that police trainees need a university education focused on the realities of policing in the 21st century.
The Mass Casualty Commission examined the circumstances around the April 2020 shooting rampage in Nova Scotia that left 22 dead. Among its findings was that the standard of police training is “inadequate to equip police for the important work they do and for the increasingly complex social, legal and technological environment in which they work.”
“The shortcomings produced by this approach have a disproportionate adverse impact on those who have historically been underserved by police,” it stated.
That conclusion highlights the reality that in recent decades we have witnessed unprecedented technological advances and consequent computer-based crime, an aging population and rapidly increasing diversity, and a veritable epidemic of mental health and addictions challenges.
To serve and protect Canadians properly, police must be fully capable of functioning in this environment. A specialized university education is therefore essential.
There’s another reason to support this approach: For their own safety, police officers need it, and deserve it. The recent spate of killings of police officers in Canada has driven home the dangers of the job.
If Canadians lack trust in the police, that attitude permeates throughout the culture, thereby compromising the safety of police officers and citizens.
A specialized education, together with careful selection of suitable candidates, is key to changing that. That doesn’t necessarily mean more education, but rather, the right education.
In addition to coping with the enormous societal changes over the past few decades, policing requires a thorough understanding of law, psychology and sociology, an ability to assess a situation in short order with limited information, and an acumen for dealing with difficult individuals in high-pressure situations.
Equally important, policing requires people with a thorough understanding of their own psychology, particularly an awareness of their shortcomings, and a willingness to seek help if the demands of the job become too burdensome.
These aren’t qualities that can be developed in a few months. These are qualities fostered by a lengthy, specialized education, in which candidates’ suitability for a career in policing is continually assessed and their skills honed to match the demands of the job today.
Instead of simply eliminating university as a solution to recruitment problems, then, Ontario ought to consider the kind of university education police receive — and deserve. For their welfare, and for ours.
Instead of eliminating university as a solution to police recruitment problems, Ontario should consider the kind of university education