BLUE LINE CANADA’S LAW ENFORCEMENT MAGAZINE
www.BlueLine.ca AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018
COVER STORY
Stronger together
PM 40065710
How the integrated model at Halifax Regional Police — plus its community response focus — bolsters the busy port city p.14
USE OF FORCE
BACK OF THE BOOK
The insight approach: Protecting officers p.21
RCMP labour relations p.34
We’re in the protect with confidence business.
U.S. model shown
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14 RCMP Cpl. Dal Hutchinson, left, and HRP Sgt. Andre Habib at Halifax’s historic Citadel Hill. PHOTO: RCMP STAFF SGT. ROYCE MACRAE
Contents
Aug/Sept 2018
Columns
Volume 30 Number 7
4 8 10 12 13 24 27 34
Features COVER STORY
COVER PHOTO: DET.-CONST. MARSHALL HEWITT, HALIFAX REGIONAL POLICE, FORENSIC IDENTIFICATION SECTION
14 Stronger together: An integrated approach
The well-being of the community is, as always, at the forefront for Halifax Regional Police, as it continues to work with its partners, promote diversity and cultivate lasting relationships. By Renée Francoeur
18 The sun never sets on Canadian Military Police
With about 1,700 regular and reserve force members, Canadian Forces Military Police serve a community that is truly global in scope. By Lt. (N) Blake Patterson
19 Move it on into the Clear Zone
The Clear Zone program strives to reduce offender behaviours and robberies, while also increasing the sense of security among businesses. By Amy Boudreau
Editor’s commentary Q&A Deep blue Health & wellness Holding the line Technology Case law Back of the book
Departments 5 5 7 7 26 32 33 34
By the numbers News Dispatches Calendar Off the shelf Product showcase Marketplace Blue Links
20 Charging the batteries
Critical Incident Stress Management is not a debriefing; it is the process of pre-incident training and education, intervention and much more. By John Robertson
21 The disconnect with use of force
The insight approach could help close the gap between protecting officers who use force in citizen encounters and maintaining public legitimacy. By Neil Munro
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August/September 2018 | BLUE LINE
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EDITOR’S COMMENTARY BY RENÉE FRANCOEUR
“Share It. Don’t Wear It.”
F
irefighter Barry Dawson, para- a specific, time-limited event, after which medic Andreanne Leblanc, for- it is taken down, so the image doesn’t mer RCMP officer Krista Carle: become background noise,” Kaisers and three first responders with dif- Semple wrote. ferent lived experiences and their own The posters are powerful shots of faces versions of “PTSD demons,” but who have with quotes impressed overtop that were one thing in common: within the past year, collected during the interviews — it’s an they decided to end their own lives. important visual of vulnerability that Sadly, it isn’t the first time we’ve heard really drives home the “anti-stigma” messuch news and many similar incidents sage. never make headlines. According to the “Respondents spoke powerfully about Tema Conter Memorial Trust, a Canadian the need for a cultural change — a shift charity dedicated to raising PTSD aware- that must happen at the leadership level,” ness and collecting parallel Kaisers and Semple continued. research, 11 first responders “We hope the site, which (police and paramedics) have houses self-assessment and died by suicide in 2018 so far self-care tools, an event calenin Canada. There were 46 in dar and resources for those in 2017 and since 2014, a total of crisis, will spark larger conver246 public safety and military sations about mental health.” personnel have taken their Piggybacking on this camown lives. paign, the committee will be Those numbers are terrify- IMAGE: WORKSAFEBC holding the first-ever B.C. ing, make no doubt about it, but First Responders’ Mental I want to focus on the increasing number Health Conference on Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2019, of preventative resources I see popping up so mark your calendars. to handle first responder mental health Additionally, support groups for Ottawa challenges. police, paramedics and firefighters held Let’s start with the “Share It. Don’t Wear their first suicide prevention workshop for It” awareness campaign, run by the B.C. First people connected with all three emerResponders Mental Health Committee, gency services this May. which is chaired by WorkSafeBC. After four In June, a charitable group called the months of research through an online dis- Society of Atlantic Heroes celebrated its cussion board and in-depth interviews with open house and announced plans to build first responders from diverse backgrounds, a stunning support centre near Halifax to the committee has launched a fantastic assist first responders and veterans website (bcfirstrespondersmentalhealth. suffering from PTSD. The hunt for securcom) full of tools for those who are looking ing about $20 million in funding has begun for help and/or to help. and the society says it hopes to have part Ralph Kaisers, the VP of the B.C. Police of the facility open in five years. Association, and Doug Semple, an inspectSo things are happening all around. or for the Metro Vancouver Transit Police, Maybe it’s not as fast as some of us would recently sent me an article with more de- like — and it definitely wasn’t as fast as tails about “Share It. Don’t Wear It” and I some of us needed — but it’s never too late have to admit, the corresponding posters to speak up and seek help. And the more for the project really struck me. They can we keep openly conversing about these be downloaded right from the site and kinds of resources in our homes, schools were designed with a blank space at the and in the workplace, the less the mental bottom to highlight resources, meetings, health stigma sticks. events and workshops “so that the emphaRead the full story on the “Share It. Don’t Wear It” sis is on action.” campaign at: www.blueline.ca/news-stories/ “The aim is to associate the poster with features/share-it-dont-wear-it-5590.
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NEWS events like this provide them with an opportunity to connect with the community and clarify their respective roles within the public eye. These types of public events also help showcase the amazing partnerships across all ministries and first responders.”
Saskatchewan Highway Patrol officers partake in tactical training sessions to prepare for their new responsibilities. PHOTO: GOVERNMENT OF SASKATCHEWAN SASKATCHEWAN
Saskatchewan Highway Patrol hits the road
Commercial vehicle enforcement officers in Saskatchewan have a new mandate and a new name. The Saskatchewan Highway Patrol has replaced the former Commercial Vehicle Enforcement group. “Last year, it was announced that the Protection and Response Team (PRT) would be created to help reduce crime in rural Saskatchewan,” Highways and Infrastructure minister David Marit said. “Officers from Commercial Vehicle Enforcement were identified as members of the team that would provide support to the RCMP and municipal police forces and they will soon be ready to do that.” Although “protecting the provincial highway system through commercial vehicle enforcement” will remain the primary function for Saskatchewan Highway Patrol officers, they’re receiving expanded responsibilities to support their role on the PRT.
Legacy Place Society collaborates with a number of organizations to provide confidential and practical resources for both individual first responders and their families, including workshops, conferences and crisis accommodations. The event saw thousands attend, according to one of the organizers, Dennis Prior, and featured live-action demonstrations including a correctional service drug dog demonstration, multiple rappels down Chancery Hall, a jaws-of-life car rescue and helicopter flyovers. Justice and Solicitor General (JSG) branches in attendance included: Adult Centre Operations, Community Corrections and Release Program, Young Offender, Fish and Wildlife Enforcement, Sheriffs and Commercial Vehicle Enforcement. “Everyone agreed that events like this are an important part of raising awareness and helping others know they are not alone,” Prior said. “For all the ministry attendees,
EDMONTON
First Responder’s Day supports Legacy Place Society
Edmonton’s third annual First Responder’s Day took place on June 2, 2018, at Kingsway Garden Mall, honouring first responders and raising funds to support Legacy Place Society.
PHOTO: DENNIS PRIOR
MONTREAL
Forensics lab approves STRmix use in Quebec
Le Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de médecine légale du Québec, a part of the Ministère de la Sécurité publique (MSP) based in Montreal, recently became the second Canadian agency to approve the use of STRmix. Ontario’s Centre of Forensic Sciences (CFS) approved its use in August 2016. STRmix is forensic software used to resolve mixed DNA profiles previously thought to be too complex to interpret. “In the five years since it was introduced, STRmix has moved from being an experimental technology to the broadly accepted norm in cases in which forensic DNA software is required to resolve mixed DNA profiles,” says John Buckleton, forensic scientist at the New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR). “I expect use will continue to grow in the future as the software is continually improved and new features and functionality added.” The latest version of STRmix, introduced in mid-2017, contained new features designed to improve functionality, speed, memory and ease of use, including multi-kit functionality which enables interpretation of DNA profiles from different test kits and a likelihood ratio (LR) batcher tool, which allows users to calculate multiple LRs from multiple reference inputs to a previously run deconvolution. Fourteen laboratories in Australia, England, Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Canada, and New Zealand are now using STRmix.
BY THE NUMBERS
The Toronto Police Service Intelligence Services - Hate Crime Unit (H.C.U.) has collected statistical data since 1993. Below are the results from the 2017 Annual Hate Crime Statistical Report, released in April 2018, and which show a spike in these types of incidents.
28%
increase in the number of reported hate crimes (186 occurrences) compared to 2016 (145 occurrences)
@Blue_LineMag
120
of the 186 occurrences were “mischief to property”
31 147
assault occurrences motivated by hate were reported in 2017, compared to 36 in 2016
average number of reported hate crimes per annum over the past 10 years
August/September 2018 | BLUE LINE
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NEWS CANADA
Canadian Crime Stoppers now accepting wildlife crime calls
Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Canadian Crime Stoppers Association (CCSA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that they say will lead to better detection and reporting of crimes against federally protected wildlife. “Environmental crime and the illegal trade of wildlife is the fourth most lucrative criminal activity in the world,” said David Forster, CCSA president. “The 87 Crime Stoppers programs operating in Canada will work within their communities to educate and create awareness to assist the public in identifying these forms of criminal activity and provide an anonymous reporting platform to report this information to law enforcement.” The MOU sets a foundation for strategic and technical co-operation, including joint public-awareness projects, the exchange of expertise and the promotion of co-operation with the Crime Stoppers programs across Canada. People who have information about wildlife and environmental crime will now be able to report it anonymously to Crime Stoppers, at 1-800-222-8477. Watch Blue Line’s video with Lonny Coote of Environment and Climate Change Canada at youtu.be/GGDZ4Da6yT4. OTTAWA
New top cop for Canadian Armed Forces
Brig.-Gen. Simon Trudeau has been appointed the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal and assumed command of the Canadian Forces Military Police Group as handed to him from Brig.-Gen. Rob Delaney. The Canadian Forces Provost Marshal (CFPM) is an advisor to the chief of the
Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Canadian Crime Stoppers Association signed a memorandum of understanding on June 2, in Hamilton, Ont. PHOTO: R. FRANCOEUR defence staff on policing matters. He or she is an active member of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and is also the commander of the Canadian Forces Military Police Group. Trudeau enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1988 and began his military police career following graduation from the College Militaire Royal de Saint-Jean in 1992. He has held numerous leadership positions across various functions, including operational deployments in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1997 and Afghanistan in 2002. Prior to this appointment as he was deputy commander of the Canadian Forces Military Police Group. The Canadian Forces Military Police Group is a professional police service. Its members are credentialed police officers within NATO and the Canadian police community. TORONTO
Neighbourhood Policing Program produces positive community gains
Toronto Police Service (TPS) and Humber College joined together on May 10, 2018, to release the results of the Neighbourhood Policing Program (NPP) research project, revealing that relationship building between the police and the community is truly working. TPS launched its NPP in 2013 in response to strained community relations, reduced
Left to right: Brig.-Gen. Simon Trudeau, Lt.-Gen. Alain Parent and Brig.-Gen. Rob Delaney. PHOTO: CANADIAN ARMED FORCES
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BLUE LINE | August/September 2018
TPS 33 Division’s Neighbourhood Officers. PHOTO: R. FRANCOEUR
public trust in police and crime patterns/ rates in certain neighbourhoods. Seventeen “neighbourhood officers” or NOs were assigned to 17 districts in teams of two. Humber began collecting data on the program in phases starting in 2014. The goal of the research project was to see if the NPP was doing what it said it was going to do. NOs have brought in programming such as homework clubs, sports events, family-centred activities and/or assist with existing community groups and programs. A TPS-wide online survey revealed on the whole, officers “do very much support community policing and see the community as a partner in solving and reducing crime.” However, there was a negative response from all levels that felt there could be more funding for this program. As such, the research team noted there is room for improvement with the program but it is still a success — NOs are viewed “favourably” overall within their respective neighbourhood and there have been “positive gains in community support as a result.” They recommend TPS establish a consistent and available program mandate with updated guidelines. They also recommend a marketing and communications strategy for the NPP and revisiting the assignment length for NOs and staff transition planning, among other suggestions going forward. Catch a video detailing some of the program’s feedback at youtu.be/1zwIzDZlt8w.
www.BlueLine.ca
NEWS DISPATCHES Mike Serr will be Abbotsford Police Department’s (APD) next Chief Constable, starting this October. Serr currently serves as APD’s deputy chief constable of operations and previously spent 26 years with the Vancouver Police Department. Chief Bob Rich will be retiring after serving Abbotsford for the last decade. His last day is September 30, 2018. Hugh Stevenson is the new chief of the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service. He has more than 31 years of service, beginning his career with Peel Regional Police in 1987 and joining the OPP in 1994. He’s served as a First Nations negotiator, the deputy director of the OPP Intelligence Bureau and, most recently, as director of the Criminal Intelligence Service of Ontario. The Peterborough Police Service has Scott Gilbert at its helm as its ninth chief of police, taking over from Murray Rodd. Gilbert was most recently a Toronto Police Service superintendent. Insp. Mark Mitchell has become the new Chief of Kawartha Lakes Police Service, following the retirement of Chief John Hagarty this summer. “Insp. Mitchell has all the qualifications to lead our Kawartha Lakes Police Service into the future,” said Mayor Andy Letham. “Chief Hagarty has done a fantastic job and can retire in August knowing the community will be in good hands.” Mitchell began his policing career with Peel Regional Police in 1988 and joined the Lindsay force in 1990. The OACP has appointed Jeff McGuire as its new executive director, replacing Ron Bain, who is retiring after 11 years in the role. McGuire began his 40-year policing career in 1977 with the Toronto Police Service. He was appointed as the Niagara Regional Police Service’s eighth Chief of Police in 2012 and retired from the NRPS in July 2017. @Blue_LineMag
CALENDAR The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) welcomes incoming president Barrie Police Chief Kimberley Greenwood, who takes the reins from Waterloo Regional Police Chief Bryan Larkin. OACP has named Chief Jennifer Evans as the 2018 recipient of the OACP President’s Award of Merit, the association’s highest award. The President’s Award of Merit recognizes an OACP member who has demonstrated outstanding dedication and support to the association. Evans began her career with Peel Regional Police in 1983 when she joined as a cadet. On October 12, 2012, she was appointed as Chief of Peel Regional Police. She was appointed to the Order of Merit of the Police Forces by the Governor General of Canada in 2013 and served as president of the OACP for 2014-15. Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer will continue to lead the department after the police board announced an extension to his contract by three years, to May 2023. “The extension reflects the extraordinary leadership, vision and professionalism of Chief Palmer,” the board tweeted, “and assures Vancouver citizens of continued high quality, responsive police services.” York Regional Police Const. Adam Bosomworth and police service dog Luke have been partners for six years, partaking in memorable calls such as locating three missing children from a group home, and now Luke is ready to roll into retirement. Bosomworth is taking Luke home to enjoy life as a family pet after years spent specializing in cadaver detection and supporting numerous investigations across the province.
Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Conference Aug. 12-15, 2018 Halifax, N.S. cacpconference.ca Warriors’ Day Parade Aug. 18, 2018 Toronto, Ont. www.thewarriorsdayparade.ca Canada 911 Ride - Ontario Aug. 25-26, 2018 Alliston, Ont. www.canadas911ride.com IACP’s Women’s Leadership Institute Program Sept. 16, 2018 Ottawa, Ont. www.theiacp.org/WLIOttawaON TACWest Sept. 18-20, 2018 Calgary, Alta. www.tacwest.ca International Society of Crime Prevention Practitioners Symposium Sept. 20-21, 2018 Niagara Falls, Ont. iscpp.org First Responder Suicide Awareness Conference Sept. 20, 2018 Calgary, Alta. frsac.cpsevents.ca First Responder & Military Personnel Mental Health/Suicide Awareness Conference Sept. 27, 2018 Edmonton, Alta. bit.ly/2KaCj7h Out of the Blue Gala Oct. 12, 2018 Toronto, Ont. www.servingwithpride.ca The Blue Ball Nov. 2, 2018 Woodbridge, Ont. badgeoflifecanada.org
August/September 2018 | BLUE LINE
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Q&A Saanich Police Department Sgt. Drew Robertson was selected as one of the “Top 40 Under 40” award recipients from the International Association of Chiefs of Police last year. Robertson, who is the team leader of the Greater Victoria Police Emergency Response Team (GVERT) in British Columbia, was recognized for revamping the recruit selection processes and operational protocols. He tells Blue Line more about his new lesson plans, training scenarios and what it takes to make a positive impact in the field. Q: How did you become involved in law enforcement?
Q: What made you want to ‘step up to the plate’ when new leadership was needed at GVERT?
I had been selected for a future leadership role but before I could begin my development for that position, the team leader unexpectedly retired under difficult circumstances. The team was facing a 8
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Q: Tell me more about the new business practices you helped implement for GVERT.
“It is very easy to become entrenched in a negative outlook on our job. One person with a positive focus and the willingness to influence others can turn an entire work group around.”
- Sgt. Drew Robertson
number of challenges at that time and it fell to me to take his place. We have tremendous support from our management and I was given a team of very bright and dedicated people, so I had a lot to work with. We chose to make an opportunity out of a difficult period and used it to make some very positive and lasting changes. My time with this team has been the most rewarding of my career. It is a demanding job that comes with all the challenges inherent to leading an integrated unit. I enjoy the
Snapshot of the Greater Victoria Police Emergency Response Team
1977
Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team (GVERT) is formed
14
members from any of the Greater Victoria area police agencies make up GVERT today
24/7 = the team’s availability
Selecting the right people for tactical team assignments is a challenge for every agency. There is an expectation that we use a rigorous process to identify character traits and behaviour that make someone more suited to the role than others. Some departments have a career pathing approach to this problem but we have been able to stay focused on suitability for the role. In small agencies like ours, it is a very resource-intensive process. With a lot of help from other agencies, we were able to develop a selection process that was fair, defensible and successful in helping us choose good candidates. The success of our selection process showed in the positive results we achieved in our most recent basic tactical operator course. After selection, basic and maintenance training are where I have focused my attention. I strongly believe that we expect our officers to be able to deal with more than we have prepared them for. More resources need to be invested in training so that we can keep each other going home every day and www.BlueLine.ca
PHOTO: SAANICH POLICE DEPARTMENT
My father was a member of the RCMP and we lived in a small town in B.C. through my high school years. Like a lot of other members, that family connection was very influential in my decision to pursue a career in law enforcement, but my path to where I am now was not as linear as it is for some. I graduated from UBC with a degree in forest resource management and I went on to work in the forest industry for a few years before beginning my law enforcement career with the Calgary Police Service. Calgary is a very professional agency with a positive culture. The basic field training I received there gave me a solid foundation that has helped me get to where I am now. I left Calgary after three years to move closer to family on Vancouver Island and was hired by the Saanich Police Department in 2005. Greater Victoria is policed by a number of smaller agencies and I became a member of the integrated GVERT in 2010, taking over as team leader for the tactical unit in 2015.
opportunity to work across the whole region with who I think are some of the best people in policing. I use my position to improve interoperability and co-operation among the various agencies and other first responders.
able to deliver on the promise we have made to our communities. I have been working to improve skills and procedures training for our tactical unit and for frontline members across the region. Training is expensive and resource-intensive, so we are exploring online and in-service options to disseminate information on a variety of critical incident response tactics.
Q: You have been recognized for fostering new relationships. Why is this type of collaboration important in your opinion?
As police officers, we are responsible for so many different tasks that we are not masters of any. When I want to improve a practice, I find someone who is doing it better. Reaching out to another agency for assistance means letting go of your ego and admitting that you don’t have it all figured out.
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BL_AugSept_Darta.indd 1
What you get back is not only the instruction but also valuable relationships built along the way. Our connections to the military, other city departments, the RCMP and international agencies have been critical to our success.
Q: How do you manage being on call 24/7? Do you have any words of wisdom for other officers trying to manage a healthy work/life balance?
It is not easy and requires a lot of support from my family. Continuous on call is not a great deployment model but we want to be there when we are needed, so it is worth the sacrifice for us. Maintaining a healthy work/life balance is difficult for every police officer, regardless of assignment. If you are truly committed to this profession, then you are working outside of your scheduled hours. What I try (and don’t always suc-
ceed) to do is focus on being present in my various roles. When I am with my family, I am focused on them. When I am working, I am very efficient with my time, which allows me to keep a couple hours each day for my own physical and mental health.
Q: What advice would you give overall to other junior officers looking to make an impact?
Shape this career into what you want it to be. If you see an opportunity, take it. If you want to make a change, then drive it forward. No one else will. This is especially important when it comes to organizational culture. It is very easy to become entrenched in a negative outlook on our job. One person with a positive focus and the willingness to influence others can turn an entire work group around. Do not wait to be a senior member of your unit to start effecting positive change.
The Saanich Police Department is on YouTube! Visit bit.ly/2xV0D8n.
August/September 2018 | BLUE LINE
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2018-07-13 11:29 AM
DEEP BLUE
BY DOROTHY COTTON
Against the grain: Why are you only hearing what you want to?
T
here’s nothing more annoying than running into a bunch of information that contradicts something you always believed, you always knew, you were sure about.1 Fortunately (or not... ) it appears that most of us are quite capable of avoiding information if we think it is not going to tell us what we want to hear. How can otherwise sensible people believe that cutting taxes creates new jobs or that autism is caused by vaccinations? Let us say, for the sake of argument, that you believe, you feel very strongly that something is true. Let’s take a timely issue. Are you one of the many (dare I say most?) who know, based on your experience and what the media tells you, that people with mental illnesses are: (a) more likely to be violent/ dangerous/aggressive, and that (b) de-escalation just does not work with people who are really mentally ill — like people with psychoses? I could refer you to piles of research and literature that contradicts these viewpoints — but people have likely already pointed you that way. You do not buy it. In fact, you are not even going to look at the data. What’s with that? Well, I am not going to try to present the data here (partly because I know you will not read the sources I refer you to) and I am not going to try to convince you that you are wrong. I am going to try to shed a little light on why you are being so contrary. Alas, if you are like most people, then the thing to do when there is the possibility that you might be confronted with information that disputes your view of things is to put a bag on your head and pretend the information does not exist. Don’t even look at it. Just to be
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clear: I am not recommending this strategy. But the fact is that’s what most of us do. If you are left-leaning, you read left-leaning media and avoid the stuff to the right (and vice versa). The fact is we pay attention or seek out information that confirms what we already think, and we avoid information that might conflict with what we think — or might cause us to act in such a way that conflicts with our “intuition.” We all do this. We’d rather not see the calorie count on a dessert we really want because if we did, we would not order the dessert — and we really want that dessert. We’d rather not see the odds of our team winning or losing (if the odds are bad) because we might end up feeling pressured to bet against our team. We’d rather not know if our partner is cheating. We’d rather not have the medical test if it might tell us we have some horrible disease. Rather than change our point of view to something less intuitive, we’d rather just not know. It’s a curious thing. We are not talking about considering new in-
We avoid information when a decision has yet to be made, and we avoid information when situations are most unclear.
formation and deciding we do not agree. We are talking about actively making sure we do not even come in contact with the information. To make matters worse, we are most likely to actively avoid information at the very times we most need that information. We avoid information when a decision has yet to be made, and we avoid information when situations are most unclear. Maybe this accounts for why some very unlikely politicians have been elected recently. If you really dislike the people in power and have decided that you are “voting for change,” you may well not want to be faced with the fact that the “change” party really makes no sense or has weird policies you do not agree with. Better just to believe what they say and leave it at that. Avoiding information is of course impossible sometimes. Maybe they put the number of calories in big numbers right beside the description of the decadent chocolate mocha surprise cake with whipped cream. You saw it even though you didn’t want to. The curious thing is that once you have seen the information, you do pay attention to it. No cake for you! Perhaps it is easier to avoid it than to ignore it. Maybe there is something to be said for mandatory training, especially when you are sure it is a waste of time. Did I mention that people with mental illnesses are not more violent and that you can de-escalate people who are psychotic? 1. Woolley, K., & Risen, J. L. (2018). Closing your eyes to follow your heart: Avoiding information to protect a strong intuitive preference. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114(2), 230-245. http://dx.doi. org/10.1037/pspa0000100
Dr. Dorothy Cotton is Blue Line’s psychology columnist. She can be contacted at: deepblue@ blueline.ca.
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OTHER FEATURES Sight Radius: 6.5” (16.5 cm) Grip: Polymer Weight: 27.6 oz. (782.0 g) Weight Empty Mag: 2.8 oz. (80.3 g) 10 Round Magazine Barrel Material: Stainless Steel Armornite® Finish Slide Material: Stainless Steel Armornite® Finish Frame Material: Polymer Finish: Black UPC Code: 022188870640
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HEALTH & WELLNESS BY ISABELLE SAUVE
Eroding negative vibes with gratitude
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e likely have all come across a disgruntled and jaded co-worker, someone overly preoccupied with spreading negativity. We may even have been in those shoes ourselves. Little by little, negativity can snowball into extreme gloom. It can be easy to fall into a pattern of seeing the negative in anything and everything — especially in environments where it is a prevalent view. This outlook can spill onto all aspects of one’s life. In fact, negative energy is not only counterproductive; it can also be draining and harmful. Thankfully, actively monitoring negative thoughts and attitudes is within our control and, ultimately, satisfaction or dissatisfaction is to a great extent determined by one’s own perceptions and cognitive approaches. What we think and how we feel comes from within. There are many ways to think
and feel about the same event. We choose how we look at situations and we choose our responses to them. Our “self-talk” and what we think determines how we feel about situations and about ourselves. This largely determines our ability to control emotions and actions. In law enforcement, this correlates with relating to others, demonstrating tolerance and officer deportment. With better self-control comes the ability to dull negative triggers and calmly cope with the challenges presented to us. Law enforcement officers have the privilege and opportunity to significantly impact the lives of others and to make a difference. As such, it is important to find value in the work being accomplished and have a positive outlook. Gratitude is a discipline and form of relaxation capable of improving wellness. Studies have shown that its practice re-
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duced depressive symptoms by over 30 per cent in those suffering from depression. It has been linked to better sleep. It has also been shown to reduce stress levels in test subjects and increase physical and mental vigour and vitality. Practicing gratitude can help us gain greater happiness and a more positive outlook on life. It is not about being blind, oblivious or only seeing a “silver lining.” It is about having a realistic perspective on things to be grateful for. It is about choosing what to focus on and placing value on what one has rather than on what one may not have. It is about focusing on what really matters. It is also about being reminded of things one may take for granted, such as good health or food on the table. Through the simple practice of gratitude it is possible to turn negative emotions and thought processes into positive ones. Learning to cultivate it comes with practice. Devoting as little as five minutes a day to reflect on something to be grateful for can make a significant difference. A commitment to stop complaining can also foster positivity and break cycles of negativity. Surrounding oneself with like-minded and positive people is another powerful tactic. I recently experienced a perfect illustration of this while travelling when I met some of the people of Namibia who live in modest conditions in the middle of a desert. While they may not have the latest technology, a large bank account, or many personal possessions they are happy people. They spend hours together as a community. Evenings are devoted to chanting and dancing as a celebration of life and the surrounding beauty of nature. They also practice being openly thankful for what they have and even for the basics such rain, animals and the food they eat. One often attracts what one projects. Recognizing, acknowledging and being thankful promotes happiness and wellness. The key to “having it all” is knowing you already do. Isabelle Sauve is a 10-year OPP veteran currently with the Emergency Response Team (ERT) at the Almaguin Highlands Detachment in Burks Falls, about 300 km north of Toronto. She can be contacted at: isabelle. sauve@hotmail.com.
BLUE LINE | August/September 2018
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HOLDING THE LINE BY MICHELLE VINCENT
Police officers are still part of the village
“I
t takes a village to raise a child.” When you hear this expression, you may think of how that applies to when you were a child. Or perhaps you are currently raising your own children and wishing you had that village experience. Whatever stage you are at, the influence of the “village,” or our community, when it comes to major life changes cannot be understated — and nor should it be underutilized. As police officers we tend to engage in calls with a degree of community in our minds, as many of us came in with the objective of serving those very communities. When we set out for our day or night shift with the intention of this objective, it can be challenging to see ourselves as a member within our communities. It’s easy to forget that though we serve our communities, we are also a part of them. I am fortunate that in my current position within my police organization I have the opportunity to engage with many outstanding members of our community. In one instance, I met a fine Toronto police officer — I learned afterwards he was a serving member — who began to tell me a story highlighting the relationship between police and the wider community. I must admit, at first I anticipated a negative, dismal outcome based on how his story began. I figured it was headed in the direction where once again, we as officers would end up looking bad in the eyes of the public due to a misunderstanding. To my surprise, the story this officer told warmed my heart and reminded me of how connected and supported we really are by our community members. This officer was working a paid duty and was required to keep a busy intersection clear of pedestrians and traffic while construction was underway. A female who appeared to be experiencing a mental health crisis was positioned in the middle of this intersection, refusing to leave. The officer asked her politely to leave the intersection and realized the only way to keep her safe at this point was to remove her physically in as gentle a manner as possible. However, at the same time the female began to remove her clothing. As the officer looked up, hoping for support and yet also fearing how this unfolding debacle
appeared to onlookers who may not understand a person experiencing a mental health crisis, he noticed two females who looked genuinely concerned for the well-being of the woman. After apprehending the female, the officer took a chance and asked the two female bystanders if they might help dress the woman in order to preserve her dignity. Without hesitation these women began to dress the female, changing the entire experience from a headline of “Uncaring police officer removing now naked female from intersection during paid duty,” to “Kind police officer understanding and supporting a female in crisis,” and getting her the help she clearly needed at this time. This was all a result of the officer reading the crowd and taking a chance on the old saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Let’s not forget we work as officers in communities that very much still support
our actions and efforts, despite what the barrage of various media accounts depict. Let’s strive to maintain faith that just as we go out to serve, doing our very best with the tools we have at the time, that the members of our community are just as altruistic, waiting for us to direct them in how they can best support us. Finally, thank you to the officer who shared this story and those two community members who helped restore the faith in the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Michelle Vincent is a 16-year York Regional police officer with a Masters Degree in Arts in Counselling Psychology and a background in equine-assisted therapy, workplace reintegration and teaching. She has a practice supervised by a psychologist and is working towards her PhD in Forensic Psychology/Crisis Response. She can be contacted at: michelle@smith.net.
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2018-03-05 11:43 AM
COVER STORY
Stronger together:
An integrated approach The Halifax Regional Police (HRP), the host of this year’s CACP Conference, has a unique policing model based on harmonizing with the local RCMP. The result has been flexible, cohesive law enforcement for the busy capital of Nova Scotia, and the well-being of the community is, as always, at the forefront. By Renée Francoeur
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hen Halifax Regional Police (HRP) Chief Jean-Michel Blais retired as the chief superintendent from the RCMP Halifax District back in 2012, he didn’t go far. In fact, he just moved over to a neighbouring office about 10 feet away to take the reins of HRP. “It was the most significant promotion of my career and yet the shortest transfer of my career,” he jokes.
Nonetheless, it highlights the close ties between the two forces that makes policing in the coastal metropolis so collaborative and resilient.
Integrated strategy
HRP has transformed over the years from a midsized service to being “truly a modern police service that serves as the reference for policing in Atlantic Canada,” according to Blais. And it hasn’t done that alone.
1749 A form of policing begins in Halifax
Const. Joseph Malcolm with his K9 partner. PHOTO: SEAN DEWITT 14
BLUE LINE | August/September 2018
In 1996 a number of urban and rural communities were amalgamated to form the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). Likewise, the stand-alone Halifax, Dartmouth and Bedford police departments fused into the HRP. The local RCMP detachment continued on with its responsibility for the county portion of Halifax. Currently, it is the largest RCMP jurisdiction east of the Rockies. “It was decided that HRM would ensure the two police services were integrated as closely as possible,” Blais says. “Several studies were carried out and it was found that the best model for integration was with regards to criminal investigations at the higher level, so the homicide units, sexual assaults units, fugitive offender units and the like. It was determined we would take about 30 RCMP investigators along with about 90 HRP investigators and put them into one unit, which is known as the Criminal Investigative Division.” The officer in charge of that division is an HRP superintendent and the second in command is an RCMP inspector. This means a homicide case in downtown Halifax can have both HRP and RCMP investigators attending, and likewise with incidents in the county. “On the frontline, we have a very flexible approach where at any given time, we have either an RCMP or HRP senior officer who is the duty officer. If there is an issue in either of the jurisdictions, whoever that officer is www.BlueLine.ca
Members stand proud during the 2017 Nova Scotia Fallen Officers’ Memorial Service at the Halifax Grand Parade. PHOTO: HRP DET.-CONST. MARSHALL HEWITT
HRP Chief John-Michel Blais, right, and RCMP Chief Supt. Lee Bergerman at HRP headquarters. PHOTO: RCMP STAFF SGT. ROYCE MACRAE
will be the first line to answer,” Blais continues. “We work with the RCMP on almost an hourly basis.” Both agencies have the same integrated emergency services (i.e. the dispatch centre), which helps with efficiencies and ensuring enough police support is sent to an area in need. The working relationship between the two organizations is something that should be highlighted more, according to Halifax District RCMP Chief Supt. Lee Bergerman. “Regardless of what uniform they’re wearing, the goal is the same and we’re all here for the same reasons — to prevent and solve crimes and ensure public safety. That’s what brings us together at the end of the day. There’s always the friendly competition and the ‘big red machine’ talk but when @Blue_LineMag
1864 Halifax Police Department is established
push comes to shove, no one is looking at the colour of the stripes.” This was illustrated in Moncton, N.B. during the 2014 shooting rampage that left three Mounties dead. “RCMP District Halifax went to assist in the shooting and many HRP officers also went; they were able to expand with ease as we are using the same records management system,” Bergerman says. She notes another example this past May when Mounties were responding to a dangerous situation involving a loaded shotgun in Cole Harbour, N.S. HRP officers were listening to the same call and able to back the Mounties up. “Overall, it works very well,” Blais says of the integrated model. “We see a friendly and robust competition of ideas to better deliver policies and procedures... I look at our strategic communications unit and I’ve seen it grow in the years I’ve been here thanks to bouncing ideas off the RCMP and vice versa, and
one side coming up with ideas that were replicated and improved upon on the other side.” Additionally, as the body policing a substantial port city home to the Atlantic fleet of the Royal Canadian Navy, HRP is in close contact with the local military authorities. “They are an important stakeholder in the work we do and we work with them on a regular basis,” Blais notes. Honing such a tight level of co-operation broadens the region’s overall law enforcement perspective, strengthening crime and problem-solving abilities, Bergerman adds. She notes how in her past experiences with cold cases she has witnessed firsthand how crucial it was to have the local police department on board as part of the team. “In Halifax policing, you have the local perspective with HRP, but you also have the provincial and national perspective with the RCMP and the resources that come with that,
Halifax operates under an integrated policing model: Halifax Regional Police is responsible for policing the urban core of the city as well as the Sambro Loop and the Purcells Cove. Herring Cove Loop and the remaining areas are policed by RCMP Halifax District. August/September 2018 | BLUE LINE
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COVER STORY
Members of HRP and the Canadian Armed Forces Military Police in bike training at Halifax Harbour. PHOTO: SEAN DEWITT
such as national security teams, human trafficking teams,” she says. “I can get an expert here out of Ottawa quickly if we need to, for example, whereas some municipal police forces wouldn’t have access to these types of tools.”
Learning curves
That’s not to say this type of “league joining” didn’t come with its fair share of headaches and growing pains at first. “We are two different police services,” Bergerman says. “Our policies are similar but they’re not the same. We have a different requirement for our exhibits and record keeping for example and some of that can be a challenge as we have to ensure we’re adhering to our policies, even as we adapt to some of HRP’s processes.” Moreover, the RCMP works off of a platform called PROS (the Police Reporting and Occurrence System) whereas HRP works off of Versadex.
1996 Halifax Regional Police is formed
“It was determined we’d all work off the Versadex system,” Blais says, “so it was a process getting that in there, though a lot of the nomenclature was common to both services.” Budgetary decisions that sometimes require feedback from the RCMP’s national headquarters was also something new to navigate, Blais adds, but the “forward-looking approach of the employees of both services as well as the local politicians and municipal staff ” cleared the hurdles in the long run.
Change from within
Integration wasn’t the only modernization HRP undertook in past years. In 2016, it hired Chris Giacomantonio for a brand new civilian role within the service, HRP’s own research co-ordinator. His mission is to enhance policing practices and procedures as well as foster research opportunities between the police and community.
“Regardless of what uniform they’re wearing, the goal is the same and we’re all here for the same reasons — to prevent and solve crimes and ensure public safety...”
- Chief Supt. Lee Bergerman
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“What he has brought to this organization has been truly a data-driven and evidence-based approach when it comes down to all of our decisions,” Blais says. “One of the things we try to avoid is groupthink or situations where we have one individual coming down from Mount Olympus to force their decisions, i.e. the chief. We have a very collaborative approach that renders the best decisions possible.” This is one of the biggest changes from within HRP has seen in the last five years, according to Blais. “It may not be as perceptible to those outside, but it’s allowed us to make better decisions and that has obviously changed how we do our investigations, how we have avoided some tragedies and our community engagement.”
Relationships that last
Speaking of engagement, Blais says he’s strict about his definition of community policing because it’s such a vital component of what HRP does. “A lot of people think of it as a police officer going out and playing basketball with kids. No, that’s police/community relations. It’s actually police getting together to be able to build a basketball court, to help with those relationships.” To that end, HRP has taken a page www.BlueLine.ca
An HRP boat patrols the Halifax Harbour. PHOTO: HALIFAX REGIONAL POLICE
out of the game books from forces such as the RCMP, Vancouver and Calgary, and established the Halifax Regional Police Foundation about six months ago. “Our expectation is to be able to provide auxiliary funding for some of these types of community projects that would not normally come out of the police or municipal budget,” Blais says. “This is a direct result of having our ears to the ground and being fully engaged with the community.” Community policing is one of HRP Central Division Cmdr.-Insp. Dean Simmonds’ biggest passions. Simmonds was one of the members who implemented the Community Response Model at HRP in 2006, a step that remains one of his most memorable moments. “It was amazing because it had been difficult for me to wear my uniform and be me. The kids, for example, knew me from coaching in the city, but when I put my uniform on, they didn’t really know me. This was an opportunity to see that Police Officer Dean is actually Dean,” Simmonds says of the community response role. “It gave me an opportunity to mentor, but to also sit down and listen to the elders and their stories. And then to take that all back to our organization and encourage others to do the same.” @Blue_LineMag
“I look at our strategic communications unit and I’ve seen it grow in the years I’ve been here thanks to bouncing ideas off the RCMP and vice versa...”
- HRP Chief Jean-Michel Blais
In big cities, it’s easy for police officers to become faceless, he adds. “With the number of calls for service increasing in complexity, I think community policing is a mechanism by which we return to the roots of policing — engagement and creating trust.” Community policing allows officers to have a better understanding of the diverse communities they serve, Simmonds continues, and allows them to then advocate within the department for policy changes that may be needed.
Diversity matters
In 2016, the CBC released a survey revealing there was only one major city in Canada with a police force that “matches or surpasses” its community’s racial diversity — Halifax.
Check out HRP on YouTube at youtube.com/user/ HfxRegPolice/ videos
While it’s important to point out that Halifax isn’t as diverse as some other major urban centres across the country — 11.6 per cent of the general population is non-white, according to the latest census, and 12.1 per cent of HRP officers are either Aboriginal or visible minorities— Blais says he’s proud of the many vibrant cultures in the city and the representation of the Acadian and African Nova Scotian communities, among others, on the force. It wasn’t always like this; when Simmonds was growing up in Halifax, he didn’t want to be a police officer because he didn’t think it was attainable. “I never saw an officer that looked like me in my neighbourhood,” he explains. HRP has been working hard to promote diversity recently, with Simmonds heading recruitment efforts. When recruiting ramped up in April of this year, he notes the mission was to attract applicants who respect diversity. “It’s important for me to be out there recruiting and having those difficult conversations with community members — to not shy away from the diversity topic so I can continue to make the service better every day,” Simmonds says. That face-to-face, that human contact component — that’s what technology will never be able to replace when it comes to policing, Blais adds in. You can have all the connected devices (HRP recently completed a study that found body worn cameras would not be an advantage for the city) and fancy algorithms you want, he says, but when the call comes in regarding a drunk driver or when someone has been assaulted, there isn’t a button to push to handle it — you still have to send in a person. “It isn’t technology that drives or contributes to those interactions; it’s the quality of the officer,” Blais concludes. Blais and all of HRP, as well as the RCMP Halifax District and the Canadian Forces Military Police of Halifax look forward to welcoming you for the 113th CACP Annual Conference. August/September 2018 | BLUE LINE
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MILITARY POLICE
For example, when the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower visited Halifax for Canada Day celebrations in 2017, military and civilian law enforcement agencies from both sides of the border met for months in advance to co-ordinate jurisdiction. Members from the Military Police Unit in Halifax and investigators from the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (Atlantic Region) met with members of RCMP “H” Division, Halifax Regional Police, U.S. Navy military police and the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) to discuss and plan security, force protection and who would have the lead depending on where an incident involving U.S. sailors might take place during the visit — be it on the carrier, during transport to shore, on the jetty at the Royal Canadian Navy Dockyard or in downtown Halifax.
The sun never sets on Canadian Military Police
By Lt. (N) Blake Patterson
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olice serve and protect their communities, but that can be difficult when your community is not neatly located in one place, one municipality, one province or even one country. Canadian Forces Military Police (MP) face this challenge every day. With about 1,700 regular and reserve force members, the MP serve and protect a community that is truly global in scope — from Victoria to St. John’s in Canada, from Washington to Guatemala in the Western Hemisphere, and from Beijing to Jakarta in the East. As you read this, there are MP policing and supporting the departmental security program at approximately 40 military establishments across Canada, at 55 foreign missions, and at about 10 other locations the Canadian Armed Forces are currently conducting operations. At any one time, 15 per cent of the force is out of country and another 10 per cent is at high readiness to deploy on short notice for activities such as major crime investigations and helping Global Affairs Canada protect 18
BLUE LINE | August/September 2018
embassies and dignitaries. Anyone thinking of joining the MP better make sure they have their passport in hand. “Our mission is to contribute to the effectiveness and readiness of the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces through the provision of professional police, security and operational support services worldwide,” said Brig.-Gen. Simon Trudeau, Canadian Forces Provost Marshal, who commands the Canadian Forces Military Police Group and serves as an advisor to the Chief of the Defence Staff. “We take pride in being Canada’s frontline police service.” It’s a unique policing mandate. As credentialed peace officers, MP not only have national policing responsibilities — such as addressing domestic crime and combatting issues such as sexual assault and illicit drug activity — they also conduct police training and enforce criminal and military law in all locations where the Canadian Armed Forces are deployed around the world. That said, Canadian MP do not face this daunting task alone.
At any one time, 15 per cent of the force is out of country and another 10 per cent is at high readiness to deploy on short notice for activities such as major crime investigations and helping Global Affairs Canada protect embassies and dignitaries. “Law enforcement for a community spread worldwide can only be accomplished with the help of the global law enforcement community,” Trudeau admits, noting that in recent years Canadian MP have worked closely with military police units and civilian law enforcement agencies in places such as the United States, United Kingdom, Poland, Latvia and Ukraine (to name just a few). “Thanks to the ongoing contribution and co-operation of our national and international law enforcement partners, Canadian MP are proud to help ensure the safety of our military community wherever they serve, and thereby, contribute to the operational effectiveness of the Canadian Armed Forces throughout the world.” Lt. (N) Blake Patterson, CD, is a public affairs officer with the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal/Canadian Forces Military Police Group, Canadian Armed Forces.
www.BlueLine.ca
PHOTO: JOINT TASK FORCE UKRAINE
A Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) assistant instructor and a Canadian Military Police instructor examine a footprint casting performed by UAF students during the Canadian-led Military Police Investigator Course in Kyiv, Ukraine, as part of Operation UNIFIER in July 2016.
CRIME PREVENTION
Move it on into the Clear Zone Peel Regional Police is wrangling retail robbery with decals By Amy Boudreau
PHOTO: PEEL REGIONAL POLICE
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eel Regional Police is thinking differently about crime patterns related to specific industries in an effort to reduce incidents of crime, one program being the Clear Zone Robbery Prevention Program. Clear Zone was designed to reduce offender behaviours, reduce the incidents of robberies and increase the sense of security among users of retail businesses, as well as the level of knowledge in crime reduction strategies. Clear Zone was formulated based on researched Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles, environmental and situational criminology, and paired with Crime Prevention Through Community Engagement (CPTCE). Robbery offenders generally operate when business traffic is minimal and when concealment is more likely. The offender may enter a store and become concealed behind heavy window signage where they cannot be seen by passing motorists, pedestrians or police patrols that may be driving by, which puts the store at risk. Historically, window signage has been an issue in the gas-convenience store industry. Signs decrease clear sight lines into and out of the property and have been identified as a causal factor for robberies in numerous studies.1 The Clear Zone program is designed to strip away the offenders’ anonymity through strategic placement. This is accomplished by identifying a prominent window that strategically overlooks the cash handling area and ensures that promotional materials do not obstruct the view into and out of the store. The majority of transactions, including robberies, take place at the sales counter. Removing signs from the window eliminates the cover it provides for an offender. The prominent window is then highlighted and defined through the application of the blue Clear Zone decals that borders the window. The decals provide a constant reminder for retail staff to always keep the area clear within the decals. They act as a visual deterrent by fostering a sense of police presence through the Peel Regional @Blue_LineMag
Police crest and the printed words “Robbery Prevention Program” on the doublesided decal. The decals generate conversations between staff and customers, as well as drawing witness potential by getting people both inside and outside of the store to pay attention. Ultimately, the program strives to deter criminals from targeting the store location altogether because the risks of getting caught are perceived to be higher. When implementing the program, several criteria must be met: • decal is present • window is kept clear • cash area is showcased • large-scale application • clear view is maintained from inside the store The program can be expected to have a limited effect where this fundamental relationship is not present.
Successful results
From 2014 to 2017, 10 out of 26 stores with Clear Zone had zero robberies in the Region of Peel. Circle K, formerly known as Mac’s Convenience Stores Inc., took the opportunity to partner with Peel Regional Police in 2013 and implemented the Clear Zone program into all 14 of their locations in Peel from November 2013 to January 2014, . Prior to Clear Zone, Circle K had 17
robbery incidents dating back to 2010. After Clear Zone, the company has had 14 robbery incidents — an 18 per cent reduction. With the Clear Zone program’s success at their locations in Peel Region, Circle K adopted the program and rebranded the decal. In January 2015, they implemented Clear Zone into four “high risk” store locations in Thunder Bay, Ottawa and Toronto as a pilot program. Since then, the overall crime incidents have dropped down 92 per cent, according to recent data. With continued success outside of Peel Region, Circle K rolled out a second set of installations into four additional “high risk” locations on May 27, 2017. Robbery incidents have decreased by 100 per cent to date at these spots. Several police services across Canada have expressed an interest in implementing the Clear Zone program. Many other gas station convenience stores across Canada have shown an interest, including Suncor-Petro Canada, who has gone on to now adopt the Clear Zone program into pilot stores. It’s important to mention the program is not designed to make retail locations “robbery-proof.” It is intended to improve the function of the space while addressing a number of safety and security issues by providing ways to improve the property’s natural surveillance, natural access control and territoriality. If we can reduce incidents of even just one robbery, then we are off to a great start in reducing victimization and promoting public safety. Peel Regional Police will be presenting more information about the program at the International Society of Crime Prevention Practitioners (ISCPP) Symposium being held in Niagara Falls in September 2018. For more information, visit peelpolice. ca/TheClearZone. 1. Crow and Bull 1975; Duffala 1976; Jeffery, Hunter and Griswold 1987; Athena Research Corporation 1986; Justice Research and Statistics Association 1997; and many more. Amy Boudreau is a Peel Regional Police constable with Crime Prevention Services. Email her at amy.boudreau@ peelpolice.ca or call 905-453-2121, ext: 4018.
August/September 2018 | BLUE LINE
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MENTAL HEALTH
Charging the batteries 3.) Critical Incident Stress Management is a process, not a debriefing or defusing By John Robertson
I
f you’re looking for a good debate, just mention the word CISM — Critical Incident Stress Management. There are more opinions about this theme than one cares to know. However, many have not taken the time to actually clarify its meaning so the result is like the “broken telephone” game. The message received is not the one sent. To illustrate this, a psychologist said at a first responders suicide prevention event that CISM and debriefings don’t work; debriefings don’t prevent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Debriefings need to be used as part of a group process and should never be used as a standalone intervention. The irony is that he was actually bolstering the marketing brochure for CISM, which is not, and should never be considered a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD). It was never intended to prevent PTSD; it is to mitigate the crisis reactions with peers and must be used as part of a group process. Sadly, many Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) don’t understand this and instead they run debriefings alone with some clinicians who are not trained in it. CISM is like the toolbox and CISD is a tool in this toolbox. The CISM process must integrate three core areas:
Resistance, Resilience, Recovery An outcome-driven continuum of care The John Hopkins Model: Resistance “Immunity” Training Support Leadership
2.)
Then it must have an intervention process. When things hit the fan, what about the people? So many have emergency plans but what about the human
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BLUE LINE | August/September 2018
Crisis intervention PFA
Recovery
Treatment/ rehab Psychotherapy Medications
PEERS MENTAL HEALTH - COUNSELLOR SUPPORT
It is imperative to remember that a crisis is never determined by an event; it is always determined by the reactions to an event.
1.)
Pre-incident education, supports, training and equipping integrated with coaching (i.e. not a classroom model). This can be essentially the exact same model for use of force, firearms., etc.
Resiliency
Stay tuned to BlueLine.ca for more on this topic, including the five factors that trip up this process, known as the “SHIFT Approach.”
beings who have family on the phone while they are on scene and needed there, for example? How do we help them? It is imperative to remember that a crisis is never determined by an event; it is always determined by the reactions to an event. One event that gives me a severe psychological charlie-horse may not even make my colleague’s radar, for example. Let’s say two officers attend a child fatal case. One of the officers, who does not have children, walks away feeling sad but the other feels like she’s taken a shot to the solar plexus as she has a child in the same age group. Peer support matters, but if the agency only focuses on the one sad officer, then it might seem like “everyone is fine,” and there could be unlooked-for performance issues down the road. By the way, this is not a performance issue.
Next is the follow through process to get the affected person into a healthy new norm. Most of us have had the physical charlie-horse experience and the coach that instructs us to walk it off, telling us we’re fine, even though it still flipping well hurts. This approach is the same thing as saying to a person after a crisis, “Suck it up.” For all the education and training happening, we are still allowing people to do this to each other. Want proof? Watch and listen to how the word “strong” is applied in everyday speech, as if being “strong” means showing no emotion. Some of the death notifications I have had to do went the “best” they could because I showed emotion. On the other hand, I saw reactions when an officer shared information without emotion (aka it’s just a transfer of information) and it was not ideal. To think of the CISM process, think of a human as a battery. Whether it is aging parents or kids, or workplace dynamics, life will drain our battery like the dome light on older cars. A critical event just draws too much for us to absorb, like leaving the dome light on during a cold winter night. Self-care and peer support is about getting some charge back into our batteries. CISM is not a debriefing or a defusing. It is the process of pre-incident training and education, intervention and post-event support, and follow-through, too. If the organizational thinking behind CISM is not along this continuum when someone is impacted by a crisis, the result will be “whacka-mole” approach. This process starts with peers and mid-senior leadership. Perhaps it could start with you.
John Robertson is a certified trauma specialist, certified human behaviour specialist and approved instructor in Group, Advanced Group, Individual-Peer Crisis Intervention and Support, Grief Following Trauma, and law enforcement perspectives for CISM enhancements. He is the founder of FORTLOG Services and is based in Ottawa.
www.BlueLine.ca
USE OF FORCE
These four aspects, each of which should be constantly on an officer’s mind, highlight the environment the officer finds themselves in, the subject’s behaviour, the officer’s training and possible interventions. The PPCT (Pressure Point Control Tactics) Defensive Tactics Instructor Manual (DTIM) complements these aspects by describing the two stages in which officers react: 1. survival reaction time 2. movement time2
The disconnect with use of force Protecting officers while maintaining public legitimacy By Neil Munro
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s we all know, use of force, especially lethal force, in law enforcement has dramatically high costs — not only in lives and careers but also in public perception. Recent cases, such as with Robert Dziekański, Sammy Yatim and Abdirahman Abdi, have highlighted a disconnect between the standard officers are held to for use of force and the public’s response. Effective policing relies on the public trust. Law enforcement officers are charged with the mandate to protect and serve, and when they identify threat in a moment of crisis, they have the responsibility to respond. However, if the public does not support their responses, even if they are legally found to be reasonable, police legitimacy is lost. Legal precedent places the burden of guilt not on whether force was used — the evidence makes that clear — but whether the officer’s action was justified. In other words, if you were in the officer’s shoes, knowing what she knew, experiencing what she experienced, feeling what she felt, might you have discharged your firearm? The conundrum is how do we protect officers while preserving the public trust? One possibility is to remind ourselves @Blue_LineMag
It is important to protect officers, because often force is both legitimate and necessary in order to protect the public. of the key place officer decision-making has in use-of-force situations. The ability to separate out those instances in which officers used force in ways that reflected good decision-making — rooted in training and in the principles of policing, for example — from those that did not would improve public buy-in and boost police legitimacy. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) use the Incident Management/ Intervention Mode (IMIM) to describe the four dynamic aspects that officers should continuously reassess:1 1. 2. 3. 4.
situational factors subject behaviours perception and tactical considerations intervention options
The first stage mirrors the IMIM. In this stage the officer perceives, analyzes and evaluates the level of threat given the situation. He or she then formulates a survival response and initiates motor response. The second stage follows survival reaction time and lasts from the moment the officer begins the motor response that he/ she employs in response to a threat until he/she completes that motor response. What is missing in these tools is a way to understand and account for the content of the officer’s thought process. What does he/she perceive? How does he/she interpret his/her environment and the subject’s behaviours? What informs his/her sense of threat? What options does he/she consider? Which option does he/she choose? What makes that option the best? These questions hint at the explanatory framework of the insight approach, which undergirds the communication and de-escalation strategy, Insight Policing. The insight approach explains that every action we take is linked to a regular and recurrent pattern in which we use our minds. The quality and character of our cognitive acts are highly variable, which accounts for the diversity of thoughts, actions and behaviours we encounter, but the pattern in which we come to them is the same. It goes like this: we experience information from the world around us, interpret it to understand it, determine the significance of it, deliberate what to do in response, evaluate what we should do, and decide to do it. When we commit to a decision, we put it into action. When behaviours are stress-based, the insight approach identifies that the significance of what we have interpreted is felt as a threat, and that our response reaction is a fight, flight or freeze action taken to defend against it.3 August/September 2018 | BLUE LINE
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USE OF FORCE
The insight approach can help us pay attention to and get curious about how an officer used his or her mind to decide to use force in order to unpack and analyze whether the decision was the most reasonable decision in the moment. The insight approach, following discoveries from neuroscience and psychology, suggests that our reactions under threat are often poor. This is because threat throws us into survival mode and shuts off our critical thinking capacity, leading us to act based on impulse.4 The problem is that critical thinking in moments of threat, while difficult and perhaps counter-intuitive, is essential to good decision making in law enforcement. In fact, the IMIM assumes sustained critical thinking under threat. In use of force cases, the insight approach can help us
pay attention to and get curious about how an officer used his/her mind to decide to use force in order to unpack and analyze whether the decision was the most reasonable decision in the moment. Take this example: a person is attacking an officer with an edged weapon — a situation that may legitimately warrant use of force. The DTIM’s two phases and the cognitive sequence of the insight approach demonstrate that reactions are based in small but significant time frames and that decisions to act are reassessed based on the actions within the encounter.
From the officer’s perspective, the officer first experiences the subject rapidly approaching with a raised hand holding a weapon. The officer interprets this as a potential lethal attack and registers the significance as a threat to her life. She considers the options and decides to step off the line of attack and draw her sidearm. From the subject’s perspective, he experiences the officer drawing her sidearm, feels that his life is threatened, deliberates and evaluates his options and decides to drop the weapon. The officer now experiences the subject dropping the weapon and again goes through the process, ultimately deciding to give verbal commands to the subject to lay on the ground. The subject reassesses his options and complies. The officer experiences the subject complying, registers the threat minimized, re-holsters her weapon and handcuffs the subject. The concept known as time framing explains that these reaction and move-
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ment times overlap and that once a person commits to an action there will be a period of time that it takes to stop that action after they experience the stimulus that leads them to stop that action.5 An alternate scenario might occur if, when the assailant observes the officer draw and aim the pistol, the assailant responds by turning away for protection. The officer begins another reaction time but cannot stop her movement from the last decision she made and continues to fire her pistol. The assailant is struck in the back as he turns away, which in the public domain looks illegitimate. The insight approach would demonstrate that the officer made the decision to use the pistol while under attack, not after the assailant turned away— a decision that is in line with good decision-making in a crisis. The insight approach provides a perspective of the “in-the-moment thought process,” which is so crucial to assessing the officer’s actions in these situations.
All three models are utilized during each re-assessment in moments of crisis. The IMIM describes what the officer should consider during each reassessment, the DTIM describes the stages of reassessment, and the insight approach breaks the reaction process into a sequential thought process, providing greater guidance in understanding the decision-making of the officer, relating each step to what element of the IMIM was considered at which time. As law enforcement grapples with how to close the gap between protecting officers who use force in citizen encounters and maintaining public legitimacy, we would do well to incorporate closer attention to officer decision-making in the moment. We need to assess whether or not officers are responding based on impulse, bias and unfounded fear, or based on critical thinking and appropriate police training. The explanatory framework of the insight approach could help us do that.
1. Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Government of Canada. “Incident Management/Intervention Model,” January 7, 2008. http://www.rcmp-grc. gc.ca/ccaps-spcca/cew-ai/imim-migi-eng.htm. 2. Siddle, Bruce. PPCT: Defensive Tactics Instructor Manual. South Illinois: PPCT Management Systems, Inc., 1991. 3. Price, Jamie, and Megan Clare Price. “Insight Policing and the Role of the Civilian in Police Accountability.” Clearinghouse Review, August 2015. 4.Price, Megan. “The Role of Our Minds in the Emergence of Peace and Conflict.” In Spirituality, Reconciliation and Emergent Creativity, edited by Vern Redekop, Vol. 2. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017. 5. Messina, Phil (NYPD - Ret.). “Five Day Defensive Tactics Instructor’s Course.” June 2002.
Neil Munro retired as a sergeant from the Vancouver Police Department in 2015. He then started the master of arts program in conflict management at Royal Roads University where he was introduced to the insight approach. During his 33 years as a police officer he was assigned to patrol, emergency response (SWAT), drug squad, motorcycle patrol and was a control tactics instructor as well as a crisis negotiator.
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2018-07-18 11:42 AM
TECHNOLOGY
BY HILARY ROMIG
Fighting crime with predictive policing technology
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Why it works
Using predictive policing software allows agencies to pinpoint criminal activity in real time.
How it works
Data is collected from each shift based on activity that is entered into the department’s RMS software. When a department is equipped with predictive policing software, every entry is recorded by the standard reporting system, as well as the predictive software. Some predictive systems input crime events only. Others take various factors (i.e. community events and weather) into consideration. With the use of such software systems, departments may be able to reduce crime for the public as well as the risk to themselves. The system computes the “what, where and when” in one of the most efficient ways possible. An additional bonus to predictive policing software is how most are designed to work with the reporting system an agency already has in place. This way, officers do not have to be concerned with learning an entirely new system.
Specific types
The company Predpol has a system that backs up information to each department’s Cloud in real-time. An advantage of this system is the cost, as it is sold based on the size of the department. A daily tool is included that attains data from calls and patrol, and “predicts” the type of crime or area in which it may occur. “It offers law enforcement officers a better handle on situational awareness,” says Jeff Brantingham, co-founder of Predpol. The amount of time for this analysis is 24 hours. As such, the upcoming shifts may already be aware of which particular areas to patrol and can keep an eye on them if 24
BLUE LINE | August/September 2018
Implementing this type of software enhances situational awareness for officers — crucial for our safety — and departments as a whole. If law enforcement personnel have an idea of what type of event they are walking into, they are more likely to arrive prepared. Knowing as many details as possible lessens problematic encounters, such as armed robbers, gang activity, etc. Patrol officers aren’t the only ones reaping the technology’s benefits. Command staff can read reports and determine what areas their officers need to target during patrol. Crime analysts can map out trends and patterns in criminal activity, and dispatchers can be more aware of what has occurred and where.
Overall goal HunchLab factors in several pieces of information before revealing criminal activity patterns.
An additional bonus to predictive policing software is how most are designed to work with the reporting system an agency already has in place. they have the time in between other calls. HunchLab software factors in other variables such as geographic elements, school schedules and weather forecasts. By including as much information as possible, law enforcement agencies are able to not only pinpoint areas or circumstances that promote high crime but also those that are related to low crime. “The system can balance priorities so patrol resources are focused on the right crime types at the right places and times,” says product manager and senior data scientist, Jeremy Hefner of Azavea, the makers of HunchLab. HunchLab notes it weights predictions with a view of focusing on harm reduction.
Predictive software enables agencies to put their best foot forward and departments can use it to maintain statistics. By tracking each event or call through predictive software, areas that could use improvement are visible. Senior staff can know where to put more effort. “It is a daily tool that ingests data the police department collects in order to help the command staff, crime analysts and those on patrol,” Brantingham adds, noting the software is set up in a manner that is flexible and serves as daily operational intelligence. Furthermore, this type of patrol management is good for the community. By maintaining extensive data, efficiency may be adjusted based on police and community input. “This is important because high-volume crime types are likely to be the most important events to address,” Heffner says. As a result, departments can collaborate with their local communities in a combined effort to fight crime — without adding extra effort to the caseloads. Hilary Romig is a crime scene investigator and evidence technician at the Ruidoso Police Department in New Mexico. She has written for several public safety publications and has extensive law enforcement training.
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IMAGES: HUNCHLAB
very shift entails organization and planning. New predictive software can be a game changer. By collecting data based on everyday occurrences, departments can start each shift with better preparation and decrease the occurrence of tragic incidents. Not only does this type of software help officers to be more proactive while on patrol, it also allows officers to prepare for certain circumstances ahead of time.
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The North-West Mounted Police: 1873-1885 By Jack F. Dunn; 2017, 812 pages ISBN: 9780969859611
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Professionalism, valour and dedication, juxtaposed with Mountie misconduct and political interference from Ottawa — sounds like the environment in which the RCMP exists today. Should we be surprised that these descriptions also apply to the earliest days of the Mounties? Jack F. Dunn’s recently released account of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) may be the most comprehensive work on the subject to date. In The North-West Mounted Police: 1873-1885, Dunn combines scholarship and real-life drama to produce an impressive history of the creation of the NWMP and how it integrated itself into the Indigenous and Métis cultures already present on the prairies. Dunn renders incisive accounts of the 1873/1874 “march west,” negotiations for Treaties 1 through 7, as well as the Northwest Rebellion in 1885. We are also presented, in extraordinary detail (accompanied with rare photos), an account of the NWMP’s mode of operation, equipment and recruitment at the time. One can clearly see that the author holds in high esteem the accomplishments of the Mounties between 1873 and 1885, but he is no lackey to the “aura,” deserved or not, of the “men in red who always get their man.” Dunn exposes some gross mismanagement and careless treatment of new recruits by the NWMP. He looks at the high number of desertions and casts a realistic eye upon the mixed achievements of the NWMP’s combat role in the rebellion of 1885. Also provided is a sympathetic account of the rapid deterioration of the once flourishing Indigenous cultures on the prairies, but wisely Dunn does not succumb to simplistic finger pointing as to the causes of the damage done to their historical traditions. Dunn delves deeply into areas not commonly covered in non-fiction about the NWMP, such as the climate, the impacts of flora and fauna upon the NWMP; the costs of raising and sustaining the NWMP; and the health of NWMP members. While these areas might not appear to make for a riveting read, Dunn makes them just that. He does so by filling his pages with actual letters from members of the NWMP. This approach not only places authenticity at the book’s forefront but also creates a vivid picture of this hard life for the reader. Perhaps the only topic where the author’s approach is questionable is in his chapter on Indigenous women. While the author should be lauded for including a serious discussion of how Indigenous women were treated by the NWMP, he might have done so with more sensitivity in some aspects of this chapter. The book overall is a triumph and entertains throughout its 812 pages (no easy accomplishment). Debate may continue on what the balance sheet of positives and negatives were for the NWMP, but there can be no denying they were indeed bigger than life in a way that still resonates. - INSP. GIBSON GLAVIN, RCMP, RETIRED (Glavin’s great uncle, Const. George Hamilton Johnston, regimental number 345, was in the NWMP from 1879 to 1882 and was accidentally shot and killed while on duty at Fort Walsh.)
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www.BlueLine.ca 2018-07-04 9:29 AM
CASE LAW
BY MIKE NOVAKOWSKI
Investigative child welfare entry unlawful, evidence excluded
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vague safety concern about a child welfare matter did not justify police entry into a dwelling to conduct a spot check, so says the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal. In R. v. McMahon, 2018 SKCA 26, the police received information from a Mobile Crisis Unit (MCU) about an anonymous tip it had concerning the well-being of McMahon’s children. The tipster stated that the children were not being properly fed and the home had poor living conditions. The MCU requested the RCMP to “go and just take a look, find out what things were like and report back.” A corporal and a constable attended McMahon’s home. When they pulled into the yard, McMahon exited her house and greeted the officers. The corporal told McMahon about the anonymous tip and the purpose for the police visit. McMahon asked for a few
Since the entry was warrantless, it was presumptively unreasonable, a presumption the Crown failed to rebut. moments to “clean up” her home before police entered. This request was denied, the corporal explaining it would be inconsistent with the purpose of a spot check. When the officers followed McMahon inside, they detected the odour of burnt marijuana. The officers walked up the entrance stairs to an open living room and kitchen area where they encountered two other adults and three young children. Police noticed a mason jar containing marijuana bud on top of a microwave stand.
The adults, including McMahon, were immediately arrested for possessing a controlled substance and the children taken into care. In the course of retrieving a pair of socks for one of the children, police noticed a number of marijuana plants in a separate room in the basement. The residence was secured and a search warrant was then obtained and executed on McMahon’s home and out-buildings. Police seized 191 marijuana plants. McMahon was charged with unlawfully producing marijuana, possessing it for the purpose of trafficking and unlawful storage of a firearm.
Saskatchewan Provincial Court
The officer testified the reason for entering McMahon’s house was to check on the welfare of the children and the conditions of the house. It was also revealed that the occurrence report generated by police dispatch had referenced possible “drug use” in relation to McMahon but this “drug use” allegation had not found its way into the search warrant’s information to obtain (ITO).
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August/September 2018 | BLUE LINE
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2018-07-18 1:31 PM
CASE LAW
BY MIKE NOVAKOWSKI
The judge went on to the find that the police breached McMahon’s s. 8 Charter rights. In his view, the police were present at McMahon’s home merely to inquire into the well-being of the children and the anonymous tip to MCU did not constitute reasonable grounds to enter the home. Although the police were entitled to approach the house under the implied licence doctrine and ask McMahon questions, the police exceeded its scope when they entered the home. Since the entry was warrantless, it was presumptively unreasonable, a presumption the Crown failed to rebut. First, the judge found McMahon had not consented to the entry into her home. Second, the police were not acting under their common law duty to protect life and safety — the police did not believe the lives of the children were in danger or their safety jeopardized. Rather, the corporal was only acting on a vague and anonymous tip. The officer’s observations made in the course of police entry were excised from
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“At no place in her testimony did [the corporal] identify the basis or foundation for her belief that Ms. McMahon’s children were in need of protection, apart from reference to the anonymous tip (which incidentally alluded to the presence of drugs).”
- Justice Schwann
the ITO and, without them, the warrant should not have been issued. The warrantless, non-consensual, non-urgent search of McMahon’s residence was unreasonable. The judge went on to exclude the evidence under s. 24(2) and dismissed all charges.
Saskatchewan Court of Appeal
The Crown appealed the trial judge’s ruling, arguing he erred in his analysis of the police officers’ authority to enter McMahon’s home. In the Crown’s view, there were three legitimate bases for police entry: 1. Manitoba’s Child and Family Services Act (CFSA) 2. consent 3. the common law police duty to preserve peace, prevent crime and protect life and safety
Manitoba’s Child and Family Services Act
The Crown submitted that the duty to investigate imposed on police under the CFSA implicitly authorized entry into a private dwelling, without judicial authorization, in order to investigate whether the children in the home were in need of protection. In the Crown’s view, a warrantless entry in a non-emergency situation is an implied and necessary offshoot of the “duty to
www.BlueLine.ca
2018-07-17 9:58 AM
investigate” imposed by s. 13. Or, in the alternative, the Crown suggested s. 13.1 implicitly authorized police entry when a parent does not expressly refuse entry. Under s. 13 of the CFSA, an officer is obligated to investigate information they receive if, in the opinion of the officer, a reasonable ground exists to believe that a child is in need of protection. Apprehension of a child by police is an interim, highly-intrusive measure that is disruptive to the parent/child relationship and considered a remedy of last resort. Section 13.1 authorizes entry into a private dwelling with a warrant provided, among other things, an officer has reasonable grounds to believe that a child may be in need of protection and a person refuses to give the peace officer access to the child. Section 17 authorizes a warrantless intervention on an exigent basis provided the officer has reasonable and probable grounds to believe that a child is both in need of protection and at risk of serious harm. But there is nothing in the CFSA
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that expressly authorizes an officer to enter a private dwelling for the purpose of conducting an investigation. Even if the Crown’s argument that the s. 13 duty on officers to investigate a child protection concern implicitly authorizes entry, the officer would first need to be of the opinion that there were reasonable grounds to believe that a child was in need of protection. Here, however, the corporal did not subjectively believe McMahon’s children were in need of protection. “At no place in her testimony did [the corporal] identify the basis or foundation for her belief that Ms. McMahon’s children were in need of protection, apart from reference to the anonymous tip (which incidentally alluded to the presence of drugs),” said Justice Schwann, authoring the Court of Appeal’s opinion. “In her mind, the ‘check’ was required to firstly determine if the children were in need of protection. At no point did [she] articulate any discernible fact(s) that she relied on to support a basis to believe the
children were in need of protection, apart from the anonymous tip.” Further, even if the corporal possessed a subjective belief, it was not objectively reasonable. “There was simply no evidence of any confirmatory investigation having been done by Mobile Crisis or, for that matter, [the corporal] to substantiate the reliability of the information provided by the anonymous source,” said Schwann. The trial judge did not err in concluding that the officer did not subjectively believe McMahon’s children were in need of protection or that any subjective belief would not have been objectively reasonable. Without reasonable grounds, s. 13 was not engaged and therefore no corresponding statutory duty was imposed on police to investigate. This undermined any “implied power of entry” and no need for the Court of Appeal to determine whether the duty to investigate under s. 13 impliedly authorized entry into a private dwelling without warrant.
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2018-07-12 10:44 AM
CASE LAW
BY MIKE NOVAKOWSKI
Consent
The Crown contended that McMahon’s actions indicated that she waived her right to privacy and consented to police entry. First, the Crown suggested that since McMahon did not actually refuse police entry, the police had an implied right to enter her home in pursuit of its child protection mandate. Second, the Crown opined that the criminal law informational components for consent did not apply in child protection cases. In its view, a less robust consent standard was warranted in child protection investigations. But the Court of Appeal disagreed. “Criminal protections for an accused person must [not] be watered down or eschewed entirely simply because the impugned police action arose in a broad, unsubstantiated child protection context,” Schwann said, describing a valid consent as follows: [F]or consent to be valid, at a minimum, two requirements are neces-
sary: the consent must be voluntary and it must be informed. To be informed, individuals must have the requisite informational foundation to make their choice meaningful. This has been interpreted to mean that an individual must be made aware of his or her right to refuse consent, otherwise the consent is not voluntary. To be voluntary, the person must have a choice. [para. 83] In this case, the trial judge found no evidence of a valid consent and the evidence amply supported this conclusion. The police did not take any steps to inform McMahon of her right to refuse police entry or of their ability to get a warrant under s. 13.1 of the CFSA if she refused. Although McMahon was informed about the anonymous tip and the reason for police presence (to conduct a spot check on her house and children), the police made no effort to explain their authority under the CFSA, or to identify McMahon’s right
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to refuse police entry without a warrant. Neither was she made aware of the potential consequences of her choice. “The onus was on the Crown to demonstrate that Ms. McMahon’s consent was both voluntary and informed,” Schwann said. “Knowledge of the options open to her and an appreciation of the consequences are essential components for a valid consent.” The Crown had failed to meet this onus.
Common law duty
The Crown maintained that the common law police duty to preserve peace, prevent crime and protect life and safety authorized a forced entry. A warrantless entry can sometimes be authorized under the police common law duty to protect life and property provided the entry amounts to a justifiable use of police powers. This analysis requires a consideration of whether the entry was necessary in the circumstances and there were no less intrusive means available. After reviewing the case law concerning the power to enter a residence where the police are acting under their common law duty to protect a person’s life or safety, the Court of Appeal noted two important points. “First, the police duty to protect life is only engaged when it can be inferred that someone is or may be in some distress,” Schwann said. “Second, the duty to protect life only justifies warrantless entry where the police reasonably believe the life or safety of someone in the home is in danger and the exercise of the power is both reasonable and necessary.” In this case, the Court of Appeal agreed with the trial judge that the forced entry was not justified. There was no evidence the children were in distress, nor did the corporal personally think the children were in danger. Rather, the police were on a fact-finding mission (investigating) for MCU to determine whether there was any validity to the anonymous tip. Since they did not have reasonable grounds to believe the children were in distress, entry into the home was not necessary. Furthermore, there were other less intrusive measures other than entry available to the police, such as reporting back to the MCU or seeking a warrant. The trial judge’s decision to exclude the evidence was upheld and the Crown’s appeal was dismissed.
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www.BlueLine.ca 2018-07-13 11:26 AM
Characterizing legal consequences of making a statement or not can be an inducement
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ntario’s top court has found that an interviewing officer’s comments about the legal implications of not speaking rendered an arrestee’s statement involuntary. In R. v. Wabason, 2018 ONCA 187 a man was stabbed and killed during a home invasion. The accused, a 19-year-old Aboriginal man, was arrested for first-degree murder and questioned by police. In the course of the interrogation, Wabason attempted to assert his right to silence numerous times and asked several times to be returned to his cell. However, the police repeatedly told him that if he spoke, he would be in less jeopardy (break and enter only), while if he did not speak, he would “take the fall” for a murder he did not commit. Throughout the interrogation, the interviewing officer told Wabason that he did not think Wabason stabbed anyone, but that he should not take the blame for something he did not do. Moreover, the interviewing officer told Wabason that unless he spoke up immediately, he would “go down” for first-degree murder. A judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice admitted Wabason’s statement, finding it had been voluntarily made. The judge concluded that Wabason had been properly advised of and understood his right to counsel, his right to remain silent and that nothing said to him should influence his making of a statement. In holding there was no quid pro quo, implicit or otherwise, the judge said, “There was no direct threats or promises or suggestions that the police could do anything to assist Wabason if he made a statement.” Wabason was convicted of manslaughter and break and enter. Wabason argued before the Ontario Court of Appeal that the trial judge erred in his voluntariness ruling. He challenged the judge’s determination that there were no direct threats or promises, and thus no quid pro quo to induce a statement. The Crown, on the other hand, submitted that the judge reasonably found there were no direct threats or inducements and that no quid pro quo was made, implicit or otherwise. Justice Pardu, authoring the opinion of the Ontario Court of Appeal, agreed with @Blue_LineMag
Wabason that the statements made by the interviewing officer were an inducement. The officer suggested to Wabason it was to his “advantage to speak to police to avoid conviction for first-degree murder and — a threat — that unless the [accused] spoke, he would be convicted of first-degree murder for a crime he did not commit.” Although the police did not promise to do anything themselves in exchange for Wabason speaking to them, characterizing the legal consequences of making or not making a statement, in this context, was more coercive than promising police or court action. Pardu found the officer’s comments, in the context of the interrogation and statement, amounted to both threats and promises, and went beyond spiritual exhortations, or appeals to conscience and morality. “Properly conceived, the interviewing officer’s veiled inducements of decreased jeopardy for speaking and threats of increased jeopardy for silence gave rise to an implicit quid pro quo,” Pardu said. “Given this quid pro quo, the application judge should have gone on to assess whether, in all the circumstances, the inducements and threats ‘standing alone or in combination with other factors, are strong enough to raise a reasonable doubt about whether the will of the subject has been overborne’.” All of the circumstances include the characteristics of the individual suspect. In this case, the Court of Appeal was of the view that Wabason’s statement should not have been admitted as evidence: “Taking into account the [accused’s] age, his personal circumstances, his futile assertions of the right to silence, his requests to return to his cell and the impact upon him of the officer’s repeated statements that, unless the [accused] spoke up, he was going to take the fall for a first-degree murder he had not committed.” The Crown had not established, beyond a reasonable doubt, Wabason’s statement was voluntary. Wabason’s appeal was allowed, his conviction was set aside and a new trial was ordered. Mike Novakowski is Blue Line’s case law columnist. He can be contacted at caselaw@blueline.ca.
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BACK OF THE BOOK
CURT TAYLOR GRIFFITHS
The impending unionization of the RCMP: Impacts and outcomes officers the right to challenge a transfer depending upon their circumstances. Staffing, training, and resources will also be items for negotiation. Many RCMP detachments are understaffed and there are a considerable number of vacancies across the divisions. A notable example is Surrey, B.C., where the RCMP polices one of the fastest growing municipalities in Canada with far fewer officers than in comparable municipal jurisdictions. ederal legislation and the deciIncreased staffing will also be required sion of the Supreme Court of in northern and remote detachments, Canada recognizing the right of where officers can go for months without RCMP officers to unionize will a day off. In a departure from the tradition have a profound effect on labour of RCMP officers working in relations between RCMP mem- There will be single-officer patrol units, the bers, the government and the a push to union may push for two-officer organization. It may also alter address the cars in high demand/high-risk how police services are deliv- current wage environments. disparity ered across the country. Agreements will also have to Key items likely to be on the between be negotiated to ensure RCMP bargaining table are salaries, RCMP members have timely access to working conditions and staffing members and training opportunities, which levels. There will be a push to their historically have been limited address the current wage dispar- provincial and due to shortages of operational ity between RCMP members and municipal personnel. their provincial and municipal counterparts. The federal legislation recounterparts. At present, this At present, quires one bargaining unit and disparity is as high as 20 per cent. this disparity that negotiations take place Working conditions will also is as high as with the Treasury Board. The 20 per cent. be on the table, informed by: provinces and municipalities policed by the RCMP will be • The experiences of the class action largely relegated to bystanders in these harassment suit by hundreds of current negotiations, their role being limited to and former female RCMP officers, paying the cost of whatever agreements • The finding that the RCMP was guilty are negotiated. And the costs will be in not providing adequate equipment substantial. and training for officers in the incident This may precipitate a reconsideration in Moncton, N.B., of current contracts with the RCMP and • And the finding that officers who assist- a move to independent police services ed in the evacuation of Fort McMurray over which the provinces and municipalduring the wildfires were not adequate- ities could exercise better fiscal control, ly equipped. governance and accountability. The unionization of the RCMP is a sigIssues that have remained unaddressed nificant development. Some impacts will for years will be included in the labour be more immediate than others. Regardnegotiations. less, it represents a new and important The RCMP transfer policy, under which phase in Canadian policing. members and their families can be arbitrarily moved around the country to meet Curt Taylor Griffiths, PhD, is a professor the needs of the force, may also be subject and co-ordinator of the Police Studies to bargaining. This policy often causes Program with the School of Criminology hardship for RCMP families and proviat Simon Fraser University in British sions in the labour agreement may give Columbia.
F
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BLUE LINE | August/September 2018
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