By Lee Prokaska
The Hamilton Spectator
Jan 2, 2007
We look to our police services -- local, provincial and federal -- to uphold the law and to protect us from the baddies in our midst.
For those of us who are not on the wrong side of the law, trust and respect are the most important elements in our relationships with our law enforcement institutions.
This has not been a great year for our police organizations. Locally, police Chief Brian Mullan has been inundated with uncomfortable issues that have damaged public confidence and, equally importantly, morale among officers. At the provincial level, the image of the OPP has suffered perhaps irreparable damage because of its policing of the native occupation in Caledonia. And the nation's police service -- the RCMP -- has been widely criticized for its handling of the Maher Arar case.
If we have contact with police at all, it's most frequently with the local police force. It doesn't inspire respect to have our police service accused of racial discrimination, as it has been in the case of Michael Dixon, a black man who was mistakenly arrested by officers allegedly chasing a white suspect. Our trust may be shaken when a member of the Police Services Board expresses concern -- well-founded or otherwise -- that systemic racial bias is at work in the service.
Layer on top of that eight officers facing Police Act Charges.
As well, police association members have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2005. And officers are feeling oppressed by their workload because of rising numbers on sick leave, increases in calls for service and high volumes of paperwork.
It will be a big job for Mullan to deal with these issues in the coming year. It will take a lot of determination on his part and it will need officers to be receptive to his efforts. But it's crucial that the chief and his officers deal with these issues thoroughly and openly to ensure they maintain the trust and respect of Hamiltonians.
The difficulties facing the OPP are also complex and have shaken public trust. The behaviour of OPP officers policing the native occupation in Caledonia has seriously undermined non-natives' respect for the provincial police authority. It's hard to avoid a perception that natives and non-natives have been treated differently during the controversial occupation. Certainly, it's understandable for the OPP to work hard to avoid a repeat of the clash at Ipperwash, where a native protester was killed by police.
Commissioner Gwen Boniface, largely invisible throughout the Caledonia occupation, has moved on, with former Toronto police chief Julian Fantino taking over. Fantino is known as a law-and- order proponent, but he hasn't yet shown any firm leadership when it comes to Caledonia. It's not enough for him to say there is no double standard in Caledonia; he and his police force need to show us.
It's difficult to know where to start with the issues that plague the RCMP. The resignation of Commissioner Guiliano Zaccardelli is a good start, but it is just that -- a start. The next commissioner should be hired from outside; an internal promotion would only perpetuate the culture typified by arrogance, a lack of accountability and a sense of untouchability within the force.
Zaccardelli's resignation was spurred by huge discrepancies in his version of what and when he knew about the RCMP's role in the imprisonment and torture of Canadian Maher Arar in a Syrian prison. But the RCMP has mishandled a range of issues: the botched Airbus investigation; the Air-India tragedy; the 1997 APEC summit; an ill-timed income trust investigation; the relentless pursuit of an Ottawa journalist in connection with leaks about Arar's case. It's not just mishandling files that is the problem; it's the clear belief on the part of the RCMP that because they are the "good guys" they should be above criticism and beyond accountability.
That is not what Canadians have come to expect from their national police.
Will 2007 be a better year for these three levels of policing? Real change is needed and it must come from the top in all three cases.
Once lost, trust is very hard to win back. But when it comes to policing, the effort is more than worth it.