Walking in Waterloo Region

[plam]

I do see bicycle cops which is great, but I've really only seen cops walking if they just parked their car to respond to something. Obviously the role of police (or even very existence) has been become a very sensitive topic, so I don't want to start a debate. But as someone who has known police, and has only neutral or positive experiences with them, I like the idea of having a local "police booth" downtown. The idea being that it forces them to be more in tune with the reality of the street, but also to develop relationships with the local area on the ground. Of course, I also understand the opposition to having a constant police presence in an area.

I understand the opposition, but only in the context of having given up on improving the police.

I’m not sure that everybody understands that there are always police. The question is whether they are accountable to the communities in which they operate. So my perspective is that if there is a persistent problem with police culture, it needs to be addressed, but not by eliminating the police. However, the management structure and membership may need to be overhauled. Frequently I read of police abuses which make me think “that officer should be fired and blacklisted”, that is, forbidden to be employed in policing or related fields like security or the army. We need to get the right sort of person in the police force; honest people who will hold their colleagues to account rather than hiding crimes committed by them (among many other good qualities that are needed). The way to get there will depend on the force in question; I suspect some forces are already in pretty good shape, while others probably need a sizeable fraction of their officers to be fired (not just retrained, although that would be part of it).

I don't think "defund the police" actually means that there should be no police. I mean, certainly there should be someone to call to handle a domestic violence situation as danbrotherston mentioned earlier. It is tragic that some people do not feel / are not safe in calling the police to handle their situations. The system in which today's police exist is controversial, as is the law in Ontario where the police just get to set their budget and municipalities have to go with it. It is also probably true that police don't have to handle all of the situations that they handle today.

Also, the idea of having "Wardens" meant to keep a specific identifiable group out of trouble seems comically controversial.

I think the idea is that the identifiable group decides on its own to appoint some of its own people to do this. So not necessarily that different from the universities encouraging their students to be good neighbours. I can even imagine the regular police calling the group-specific wardens for minor issues; if the group (whichever one it is) is willing and able to work with its members to address issues, this may be more successful than anything the police can do.

In another context, Canadian Rangers are also mostly (but not exclusively) First Nations. It depends on the buy-in from the community. The minor issues probably should be dealt with in the community, and we should use restorative justice more.