Premium
“Democratic policing”: Lessons from I pperwash and C aledonia
Author(s) -
Sancton Andrew
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
canadian public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.361
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1754-7121
pISSN - 0008-4840
DOI - 10.1111/j.1754-7121.2012.00228.x
Subject(s) - independence (probability theory) , confusion , politics , democracy , government (linguistics) , political science , order (exchange) , public administration , law , public relations , psychology , business , linguistics , statistics , philosophy , mathematics , finance , psychoanalysis
Recently, there has been much controversy and confusion about the concept of “police independence” in the U nited K ingdom and C anada. The concept loomed large during the I pperwash Inquiry, in which the alleged political direction of the O ntario P rovincial P olice was a major issue. These proceedings were partly concurrent with another A boriginal occupation in C aledonia, O ntario. The Inquiry's final report recommended adopting a “democratic policing” model, which is significantly different from the “police independence” model. This aspect of the report has, however, received little or no public attention. Instead, the O ntario government continues to support “police independence,” while simultaneously claiming to implement the recommendations of the I pperwash Inquiry. How to respond to groups of people who pose real or potential threats to public order has been a major issue in C anada, requiring political decisions that are too important to be left solely to the police.