-
Revisionist history of the Sammy Yatim inquest
Police culture is a major obstacle to systemic reform in the profession of policing itself. It is this culture that is notorious for fostering hostile attitudes toward the public. If the TPS is successful in casting Forcillo as a deviation from the norm, and not a product of its internal training, culture, and formal value structure, these attitudes are unlikely to change.
-
The food police
Food theft isn’t an indicator of criminality, but of a failing social system that creates the conditions to leave individuals with no alternatives. Police in our grocery stores shouldn’t signal a need to crack down on food theft, but rather inspire questioning about why police are in our grocery stores in the first place, and what can be done to get them out.
-
Historic setback for complainants against police abuse in Québec
Québec’s police complaint system is about to be severely weakened as third parties are no longer able to submit complaints to the ethics commissioner. As Alexandre Popovic explains, while third-party complaints represent a small fraction of the files submitted, they have a much higher chance of leading to a sanction against police officers.
-
Manitoba NDP’s ‘tough on crime’ pledges will not keep people safe
Greater numbers of police will not improve public safety and will further destabilize the lives of people targeted by police for surveillance, intimidation, harassment, and formal criminalization. The Manitoba NDP’s public safety strategy does not take into account the fact that the same people who are most vulnerable to violence are also most vulnerable to criminalization.
-
Artificial intelligence will not make police body-worn cameras more effective
Artificial intelligence tools cannot fix the systemic problems of policing, writes professor Christopher Schneider, but better policies and legislation might. Public access to police disciplinary records must exist in all jurisdictions and should absolutely include language that closes loopholes that attempt to conceal police misconduct from public view.
-
Understanding the RCMP’s role in residential schooling
On May 23, 2023 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police celebrated its 150th anniversary and kicked off a series of #RCMP150 initiatives. To counter the uncritical mythologizing of the Mounties we are seeing—from the prime minister to the RCMP itself—the National RCMP Research Council has created a new website to share truths about the force.
-
Open letter: the Winnipeg Police Board should support equity-based research
We reject Smyth’s attack on the credibility of the Manitoba Research Alliance. Community-based and accountable research is essential for understanding social conditions from the lived experiences of minoritized communities. Community-based research is and should be the basis for setting policy in the interest of all communities—not only those in positions of power.
-
The brutality is in the budget
The city is responding to very real safety concerns by shuffling more money into policing and away from services we rely on to get through our everyday lives. For the people who suffer most from this shrinking of the public sphere they are not only left unsupported, their preventable crises are increasingly likely to be met with police, whose toolbox is limited and often actively damaging.
-
John Tory and Doug Ford’s vision of ‘safety’ is anti-Black
In light of the abundant evidence revealing the tremendous harm that police have inflicted on so many communities, it is nothing short of anti-Black, anti-Indigenous, transphobic, homophobic, and ableist for media outlets and the general public to spread a narrative of public safety for “everyone” that involves policing.
-
Release of Tyre Nichols’ arrest video shows why police shouldn’t control body-cam footage
The practice of releasing body camera footage will continue to remain foremost in the interests of police especially when they continue to retain control over the footage. While body cameras will never solve the problem of police violence, it should not be up to the police to decide when and how footage is released as a legitimacy tool to leverage public support of police actions.