Law and Order : Contrasting Versions

"The NRT's [neighbourhood resource teams] are the centrepiece of the OPS [Ottawa Police Services] neighbourhood policing strategy."
"We are putting them in place in the communities that need the help the most."
"[Meanwhile, investigative units are targeting] violent repeat offenders who are victimizing the most vulnerable populations and marginalized neighbourhoods."
"Reinvesting in neighbourhood policing has been a clear priority all of those conversations [with patrol officers, the police association, senior officers, academics, city councillors, police services board...]" 
"We are looking at improving existing systems to provide the foundation for more action on violent crime. This will ensure that front-line officers have the most up-to-date information and resources available on every call."
Ottawa Police Services Chief Peter Sloly

Peter Sloly named Ottawa's new police chief, August 26, 2019, Photo: Jenn Pritchard, OttawaMatters.com

The cities of Toronto and Ottawa have a recognized and vexing problem with gang violence and shootouts primarily in low-income areas of both cities. The increasing crime statistics in both cities inclusive of gun, gang and drug-related violent crime, alongside the 'complex social issues that underpin most crime', identified as housing, employment, education and health are linked with marginalization and discrimination, according to both police services, paying obeisance to political correctness.

The City of Ottawa's new police chief served previously as Toronto's deputy police chief, a man known for his 'progressive' views on policing. Both cities have long been accused by members of racial minorities -- chiefly from the Black and Middle East communities -- of profiling them. That it is from among these communities that a disproportional activity level of crime is seen in both cities appears immaterial to the accusers. And in this politically correct climate of 'progressive' values the police have become sensitive to accusations of racism.

The idea is that neighbourhood resource policing teams are to give reassurance to those neighbourhoods acutely involved in high levels of crime (somewhat reminiscent of and possibly to prevent situations such as the self-segregated Muslim-immigrant-occupied banlieues in France rife with violence and criminal activities that have turned into no-go zones for police) and to gain trust among law-abiding citizens who are often targets of the criminals living among them. But the code of silence means that giving information to police is fraught with retributive danger.

On the other hand, the presence of these teams does result in a greater level of neighbourhood scrutiny to the benefit of residents, and their presence has resulted in charges being laid, and guns removed. Homicides in Ottawa fell from 15 to 13 in the past year, and shootings fell from 78 to 73, according to police reports, while a total of 70 "crime guns" were sized by police in 2019.

Ottawa police patrol. Errol McGihon / Postmedia

"It's just another one of the discretionary behaviours that officers have curtailed [diminished traffic stops] because of their perception around risk [the risk of being labelled racist]."
"You can send an officer to work in a neighbourhood, a particular geographic area, but  you can't dictate the kind of work that they do there. Supervisors can't dictate, minute to minute, what officers are going to do in the field."
"Police brutality and justifiable use of force can have the same outcome [where a man's nose can be broken in both instances but] brutality is in the motivation of the officer and the proportionality of the response, not in the outcome."
Greg Brown, former police officer, professor, Carleton University, Fulbright Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Criminal Justice 

Concurrent to Chief Sloly's announcement of an additional three NRTs being deployed as a "cornerstone" of the strategy in tackling street violence, Professor Brown regards neighbourhood officers in his study as being more likely to engage in de-policing. Predicated on the theory that officers partner with the community to understand issues leading to crime, the NRT units should be focusing on proactive discretionary interactions.

But the reality is that there now exists what he describes as a "universal phenomenon" of officers refusing to engage in proactive work, engaging instead on a prevailing 'f*ck it, drive on' mentality. This is an issue he has addressed in a study offering suggestions for police leaders to enable them to mitigate the effects of police disengagement for fear of repercussions. Professor Brown surveyed 3,660 front-line officers from 23 police services in Canada and the United States.

382 Ottawa police officers took part, from all 18 patrol platoons. The study, titled To Swerve and Neglect: De-policing throughout today's front-line police work, identified the reality that the overwhelming majority of front-line police officers representing 72 percent, practise some level of 'de-policing'; choosing not to engage in discretionary or proactive aspects of policing duties because of the fear of public scrutiny.

Officers are weighing the costs of engaging with the public and for many, the cons outweigh the pros. Photo by Ashley Fraser  / Postmedia

A racial profiling allegation, a disciplinary hearing, media scrutiny, a viral YouTube video, or a judge charging breach of charter rights all represent the potential risks of proactive policing. With those potential risks in mind through well-publicized incidents charging police officers practising due diligence in a discretionary manner as is expected of them, police officers make the choice of protecting themselves and decide to change their policing focus, according to acquired data.

Fully 28 percent of front-line police officers were found to police as intended, a group that Professor Brown identifies as new officers whose altruistic intentions, no major incidents with the public, never been (yet) beaten down by an occupational subculture, or have had no negative media scrutiny; "mission-oriented officers", who practise their jobs irrespective of any external factors.

Data collected out of a project reflecting a human rights settlement where the force was mandated to collect information on drivers' race who had been pulled over by officers initiated in 2013 showed that Ottawa police disproportionately pulled over young men with Middle Eastern or Black appearances. Additionally, data indicated traffic stops as an entirety were diminished. Traffic stops are considered to be proactive measures, while pulling someone over even if an offence is observed is not mandatory for police.

This month, an Ottawa police patrol officer pulled over a car for running a red light. A loaded gun was found in the vehicle. Proactive measures allow police to track criminal behaviour -- all the more so when drivers flout the rules, meaning that good policing ensures that officers investigate such incidents. Professor Brown listed a number of recommendations for police services, in an effort to prevent de-policing, chief among those that all senior officers be on the front lines, working themselves.

That they go out on midnight shifts, take out a cruiser and perform the job expected of all officers, to bridge the disconnect between the front line and senior officers, helping to shift morale. Another recommendation is to educate the public on what manner of use of force is sanctioned by law. And that officers be encouraged to treat all whom they deal with, with respect, whether arresting someone or asking them to move a distance from an active scene; to "embrace the notion of procedural justice".

The three new neighbourhood resources teams (NRTs) add to the three already set up in Vanier and Overbrook, Heron Gate and South Ottawa and the Carlington and Caldwell neighbourhoods. Shaamini Yogaretnam / Postmedia