Chapter 4 - Policing in Canada Textbook PDF

Chapter 4 -- How do Police, Police? The Where, How, and What of Policing in Canada Policing the social -- the role police play in developing and sustaining social norms and standards of behaviour that underpin the ordinary social interaction of everyday activity Police Discretion -- An officer's j...

Chapter 4 -- How do Police, Police? The Where, How, and What of Policing in Canada Policing the social -- the role police play in developing and sustaining social norms and standards of behaviour that underpin the ordinary social interaction of everyday activity Police Discretion -- An officer's judgement when deciding in which situations to intervene and which to ignore Thin Blue Line -- The position of law enforcement in society as the barricade between law and order and lawlessness and disorder The Organization of Canadian Policing Policing is carried out on five levels - Federal - Provincial - Municipal - First Nations - Host of private policing arrangements (corporate police and private security) Police Strength -- A statistical measure calculating the number of police officers per 100 000 people Canada Policing -- is divided between - Federal -- 30% - Municipal -- 56% - Provincial -- 14% Federal Police - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) serve as Canada's police force and is governed under the RCMP act. The RCMP can also be deployed to international peacekeeping operations (deployment occurs according to Canadian Police Arrangement, CPA) McDonald Commission - The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Certain Activities of the RCMP, called by the federal government after allegations that the RCMP was blamed for failing to intercede and prevent the FLQ crisis due to illegal activities of RCMP security service officers Contract Policing -- A negotiated police service agreement between the deferral government and provinces, territories, and/or municipalities to provide policing service Provincial Police - There are three provincial police forces - The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) - The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) - The Surete du Quebec (SQ) Municipal Police - Most policing in Canada happens at a municipal level - Municipal police have jurisdiction within a city boundary - All municipal forces are governed under their respective Provincial Police Acts - Generally. Any municipality over 5000 is required to have its own stand-alone department. This department can either contract with RCMP or can recruit and train their own officers Regional Policing -- An amalgamation of several independent police departments in different municipalities into one single force Para-Military -- An organizational structure that mirrors the functions, training, and culture of the professional military but are not the professional military - Task Environment - Conditions existing external to a police department that determine which tasks the organization will undertake and how it will achieve its goals and mandate Representative Recruitment -- an approach directed at recruiting more visible minorities, including women and indigenous people, to better represent the population that is being policed Indigenous Policing - The development of the Indigenous policing in Canada resulted from the establishment of the band constable program in 1965 by the Department of Indian Affairs and the Northern Development (DIAND) and the eradication of the Indian Act's Indian Agent in 1971 - The constables that were appointed did not carry weapons or lay charges but were focused on social order issues and acted more like assistants - Under the 3B Program (Indian Special Constable Program) indigenous constables could carry weapons and make arrests, but were hired and directed by the RCMP Private and Corporate Policing - From a legal perspective, private security officers do not have any more rights to arrests or detain someone than any other citizen - In R v Asante-Mensah (2003) the Supreme Court of Canada decided the limits or private citizen arrests Para-Police -- Law enforcement agents that exist as secondary or subordinate to regular police forces Race and Gender Composition of Policing - Since 1986 the percentage of women in policing has increased (one in four police officers) - Among police officers 8.4% identified as belonging to a visible minority group Recruitment and Training - Representative recruitment - An approach directed at recruiting more visible minorities, including women, immigrants, and indigenous people, to better represent the population that is being policed. - Systemic Discrimination - Structural or organization patterns and behaviours that create and perpetuate disadvantage against minorities - Individual Discrimination - Actions that treat an individual differently and unequally because of their race/ethnicity/gender - A scan of police recruitment materials reveals five major characteristics seen to be important in policing - Honesty - Tolerance - Respect - Compassion - Trustworthiness - Basic Qualifications - Minimal qualifications such as age, fitness, and education that are needed to apply to policing - Preferred Characteristics - Characteristics such as speaking a second language or having post-secondary education that increase the competitiveness of applicants for policing - Experienced Officers - Officers who have training and experience but are currently working for a different police force or have left policing for various reasons. - Most police departments have a separate recruitment stream for experienced officers - Training - There are three types of training for police officers in Canada - Recruit training - not standardized across the country, takes place in specialized training facility or police academy. - In-service training - Training undertaken while officers are already employed - Field training - Trainee is assigned a coach officer for the instruction in the finer points of police obligations, including how to work on dispatch records and other protocols for everyday work - Retention - Officer Retention - The ability of police services to keep employees from leaving service Daily Work of Officers - Order Maintenance - Includes a wide range of behaviour such as surveillance, monitoring, and intervention at incidents or events (wellness checks, labour strikes, or hockey games, etc.) - This makes up the majority of the work officers do - Discretionary Moments - Situations in which police decide which course of actions to take in terms of arrest, service, or warnings - This brings overlap between order maintenance and law enforcement - Law Enforcement - Is when police interpret a behaviour as a crime according to a provision in the law such as the Criminal Code - Part of this activity of law enforcement means detection, investigation, apprehension, and charging an offender - Crime Prevention - Prevention activities look different depending on the model of policing - Police don't just react but proactively engage the community to prevent criminal activity - Social Service - 70% of cases of lethal police force occurred with people struggling with mental health issues (this has led to questioning on whether police are the right choice to be dealing with these cases) - Forensics - The use of forensics in policing can vary greatly - Policing has always incorporated some degree of forensic science Police Sub-Cultures - Sub-Cultures - A group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the dominant culture but often maintains some of its founding principles - Symbolic Assailant - A construct that views all persons and evens through the lens of persistent suspicion, seeing them as possibly giving rise to violence - Social Isolation - The distance police put between themselves and the general public - In-Group Solidarity - The fellowship displayed by members of a group who are brought together by shared purposes, responsibility, and interest - Working personality - The distinctive cognitive and behavioural responses of police that result in danger, authority, and efficiency - The personality is also characterized by authoritarianism and the willingness to use coercive power over others as well as a mistrust and suspicion of others - Blue Wall of Silence - Blue wall - This term that encapsulates the "us vs them" division that exists between citizens and police - The informal rule that is said to exist among police officers not to report on a collogues' errors, misconducts, or crimes, including excessive use of force or violations of procedural law - Blue Light Syndrome - A disorder in which police officers become overly preoccupied with danger and focus only on the high-risk elements of police work Police Use of Force and Accountability - One Plus One Rule - A rule of police escalation requiring that an officer may use force that is only one level greater than the level of resistance used by the suspect - Occupational Deviance - Criminal and non-criminal activities committed during the course of normal work activities - Racialized Policing - Policing that uses racial frames, such as societal stereotypes and assumptions about ones race, in its daily operations and thereby reinforces and reproduces those stereotypes and assumptions - Abuse of Authority - Use of one's position of authority to gain personal advantage - Starlight Tours - The dumping, drop-offs, and unarresting done by police to minority groups (mainly indigenous) in order to "teach them a lesion". - Dirty Harry Problem - An ethical dilemma that recognizes that the only way to a good outcome, such as public safety and law and order, is by using dirty means, which sometimes includes violence and violating the rights of a suspect - Noble Cause Corruption - The use of a corrupt or illegal and unconstitutional action to achieve a moral or noble outcome