Community Policing

Community Policing

Introduction

Canada has always been viewed as a nation where everyone is welcome. The diversity amongst its people is why our nation is viewed threw out the world as a tossed salad rather than the American melting pot. We are seen as a country of greater opportunity, a better lifestyle, and a place where families can come and start a new life amongst the people. Canada as a nation has adapted to other cultures and has learned from them. Not only do we embrace the cultural diversity in our communities, but we put forth all our efforts in order to help bring it into all areas of the Canadian environment where everyone can be treated equally and fair. Just like our country has adapted, policing in Canada has to do the same. No longer can our front line officers be seen as individuals who are stuck in the past and be seen as not being able to adapt and understand the different cultures and the differences that are amongst its people.

Sir Robert Peel said it best when he mandated his 10 principles "7. Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence." (Peelian Principles, 2007)This essay will examine how community policing is beneficial not only to the community as a whole but also to all the officers that work within it them. It will prove how community policing has changed the barriers in communication, partnership and how it will continue developing in the future.

Discussion

Since Canada is a multicultural nation it has many different people that do not speak English or French as a first language. Stats Canada has reported the there are "more than 100 languages in completing the census question on mother tongue. The list includes languages long associated with immigration to Canada: German, Italian, Ukrainian, Dutch, Polish, and so on." (Statistics Canada, 2001) To those that do choose to immigrate to Canada and are not capable of speaking neither of the two native languages it gives them a harder time in communicating with the different people that live in Canada and adapting to the new environment that they are being exposed to. Communication is an important aspect in any community and to anyone that wants to survive within it. Without proper communication members of the community would not be able to interact, and solve any problems that might arise as a result. The lack of visible front line minority officers and the lack of officers that cannot speak a second language other than French is a problem when it comes to communication and community relations between both parties. As a result of this lack of communication, the individuals that cannot speak either of the two native languages will choose not turn to the police if there is ever an event where an individual needs help.

This just shows why communication and community policing is an important to the police force. The police services have to reflect the individuals that live in the community that is why "in the late 80s, most police jurisdictions in Canada shifted from an enforcement to a community responsive service model." (Community and Policing in Partnership, 2004) This was a result of the federal government developing the Multiculturalism Directorate in 1984 which was "a national strategy on race relations to eliminate racial discrimination in society's key institutions. This included the creation of a police-minority program which has concentrated on a variety of initiatives ranging from the preparation and publication of a police intercultural training manual to the development of minority recruitment guidelines and the sponsorship of regional police-minority symposia." (Role Of The Police, 1997) This new strategy resulted in steps being taken in order to hire more visible minority officers and placing them in the front lines which would provided the police service with greater access to the communities and its members. To this very day the changes brought forth by the Multiculturalism Directorate continue to change the face of the police service, making it a continues form of a work in progress.

An example can be seen in the hiring practices, for example according to the 1998 statistics "out of the 5324 officers sworn in 1998 to the Toronto police service only had 642 sworn officers who are members of a minority group that is only 12% of the total sworn officers while 53% of Toronto's residents are a minority." (Minority Report, 2004) Although the 12% does not fully represent the 53% of the residents who are a minority in Toronto's population it provides Toronto with more minority police officers who are becoming visible and more prominent in their communities. Their interaction with the community will allow for better lines of communications to open and provide their members a tool/person whom which they can use in order to speak out for themselves when they couldn't have before.

Since the lines of communication are more open between both parties. It has allowed for a new and better partnership to develop between the community and the police. This partnership has provided the exact cooperation that was needed in order to develop commissions such as The Ontario Civilian Commissions on Police Services, Ontario Police Arbitration Commission, the Police Association of Ontario, the Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Ontario Association of Police Services Boards.

The Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Service is important in the province of Ontario. The O.C.C.P.S "is an independent oversight agency committed to serving the public by ensuring that adequate and effective policing services are provided to the community in a fair and accountable manner." (O.C.C.P.S, 2002) It receives its power from the legislation mainly from the Police Services Act. This power allows for the commission to "include hearing appeals of police disciplinary penalties; adjudicating disputes between municipal councils and police service boards involving budget matters; conducting hearings into requests for the reduction, abolition, creation or amalgamation of police services; conducting investigations and inquiries into the conduct of chiefs of police, police officers and members of police services boards; determining the status of police service members; conducting reviews of local decisions relating to public complaints at the request of complainants; and, general enforcement relating to the adequacy and effectiveness