My 2023 New Year’s wishes for policing in B.C. (and the other provinces)

Policing in B.C. has had a tough couple of years – with the battle over who will police Surrey, with allegations of systemic racism, of naive denials of systemic racism, with police unions newly involving themselves in politics, with sensationalist media stoking tensions and seeding discord, with civilian watchdog(s) relentlessly marketing their activities, and so much more.

For police morale and public confidence in the police it had been confusing and corrosive.

Change and adaption seem crucial. What would positive directions be for policing in 2023? Well, after a 40-year police career, here are my top 5 wishes:

1. That the fractured police services of this province amalgamate under one new provincial agency, with appropriate regional, municipal and rural sub-divisions.

The recent legislative all-party committee made a similar recommendation. But the need to reorganize is not new. In 1978 a provincial government study into policing costs proposed a Vancouver regional service when one of the area’s major RCMP municipal contracts was terminated. The 2012 B.C. Missing Women Inquiry concluded that for investigative reasons there should one regional police agency. The operational and administrative values of regional police services for greater Vancouver, the Capitol region and the Okanagan has been widely recognized, well, for decades. Yet no action has been taken by the provincial government, who, to be clear, is constitutionally responsible for policing. Surely change is not going to require another Clifford Olsen or Robert Pickton – or something even worse.

2. That police workplaces are ‘normalized’.

In 1994 the Oppal Inquiry into Policing recommended that all labor matters between police employers and employees be handled exclusively under labor jurisprudence. It never happened. This was to end a quasi-military system that extended the protections afforded citizen complaints to include workplace matters. Normalizing labor-relations means rolling back the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner’s interpretation that if the public is ‘interested’ in something going on inside a police department it is a ‘public interest’ matter. No. ‘Public interest’ actually means conduct involving the public and the execution of police public trust duties – usually referring to detention, arrest, search, seizure and use of force. It does not mean such behavior as flirting between an executive member and an employee – no matter how interesting that may be.

3. That policing rises to the status of a profession.

Justice Tullock of Ontario has twice recommended for police to adopt a professional model. A profession owns and sets standards, licenses practitioners, and holds its members accountable. This means public trust conduct is NOT overseen by exterior civilian bodies, but by a professional body set apart from police agencies. Current exterior civilian conduct review agencies have inadequate knowledge of policing, have no stake in the delivery of service, and time and again have shown that they become driven by their own agendas. They often claim to be on a higher moral ground than police, but invariably they demonstrate the opposite. Policing must reach the same level of ownership and responsibility as is the case for lawyers, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, teachers and countless other services. The current sentiment for ever greater outside control assumes that police are not capable or willing to uphold the standards of their profession. That surely erodes rather than builds public confidence in the police. And, it is simply not true.

4. That a program be developed to drive forward a more competent and assertive police leadership culture.

So many of today’s policing problems reflect a lack of effective leadership. There is an evident lack of police management and executive knowledge, skill and ethos. How could it not be so. There is extensive training for practitioners, a modest amount for supervisors, and virtually nothing beyond that. Leadership cultures require knowledge acquisition and skills training, followed by structured experiential learning, all wrapped in a value system. The military knows this model well. If policing in this province is to work together for the public good, support its officers and staff well, and maintain the highest level of service, there must be a talented and strong leader cadre. They are built, not born. Overall, police leaders are well-intended and nice people, but as regards leadership, they do not even know what they do not know.

5. That there is a clear distinction between police administration and operations, and an end of civilian governance bodies.

In theory police boards and the like oversee the administration and policies of police. That is sheer fantasy. These temporary appointed individuals have no training or experience of policing, do not understand policing, commonly have no organizational skills, nor have any actual ownership of policing services. They add no value. They simply provide a false optic of local civilian control and influence. Policing remains a provincial responsibility and ultimately agencies administratively fall under the Minister of Public Safety. As with the RCMP, it makes more sense to have a new provincial service report directly to government. As for operational matters, accountability is already multilayered - to the chain of command, the criminal courts, civil processes, public exposure, along with reviews under professional codes of conduct. Policing today is already one of the most scrutinized professions.

One united police service, administratively reporting to government, professionally accountable, with a supportive workplace and powerful leadership. May this new year be a time of planning and action.

Those are my New Year’s wishes.