On the Front Line of Social Conflict: Canadian Police and the Severely Marginalized

Northwest corner, Main and Hastings Streets, Vancouver Downtown Eastside: Morning, February 14, 2020

Abstract This paper examines the relationship of Canadian police with those at the outmost margins of Canadian society. The severely marginalized are those individuals who are homeless, living in poverty, drug addicted, or mentally ill, and who in public places engage in disorder and criminality. These populations have increased markedly over the last decades due to neo-liberal social and economic policies. The perception of the erosion of law and order in public places has invited a police response, which has primarily been enforcement oriented. This approach has increased negative public safety outcomes for the severely marginalized and the public at large. A review of interdisciplinary literature analyses relationships at personal, institutional, and community levels, and as well examines the fundamental human need for belonging. Findings include that strong social attachments result in positive thoughts and behaviors towards others, and that weak social attachments result in negative consequences, including eroded public safety. Trust is identified as the foundational component of all relationships. This paper concludes that improved security for all Canadians requires police to deliberately transform their relationship with the severely marginalized to become inclusive, positive, and built on trust. This involves altering officer mindsets, revising managerial expectations, and establishing more mindful community conflict resolution processes. These changes are necessary for Canadian society to realize its social values of cohesion, equity, and justice.

Canadian Police and the Severely Marginalized

Canada is distinguished as a nation where a broadly diverse populace seeks social harmony. This ideal presents that everyone has belonging, inclusion, participation, recognition, and legitimacy (Jenson, 1998). A recent Nanos poll states that Canadians feel the most pride in the values of equality, equity, and social justice; along with respect for others, kindness, and compassion (Nanos Research, 2016). Over the last four decades political, social, and economic changes have contributed to straining the rapport amongst Canadians (Karabanow, Hughes, Ticknor, Kidd, & Patterson, 2010).

For many Canadians it is troubling to continually see those who are poor, homeless, mentally ill, or drug addicted squeegeeing car windshields, sleeping in doorways, openly injecting drugs, working as prostitutes, or causing public disturbances. At times these people appear as offenders, at other times as victims, and often as both. For most Canadians the severely marginalized have become a troubling incomprehensible ‘other’. The current challenge is for Canadian communities and public services to maintain connection with those living at the margins of society (Jenson, 1998).

Most often it is the police, as first responders to public disorder, who are expected to contain and to have a major role in managing the severely marginalized. This paper notes the continuing failure of Canadian police to maintain acceptable safety outcomes for the marginalized and for communities. An examination of police beliefs, strategies and patterns of engagement as they relate to the current situation are explored. A framework for action is proposed for changes to police mindsets and practices, to police organizations, and to community perspectives, as essential steps towards a more civil and safer Canadian society.

The Severely Marginalized

Any number of factors may cause a group to be driven away from mainstream Canadian society. Historically, such sentiments as antisemitism, racism, and homophobia have caused marginalization. For the purposes of this paper the subject populations are: those individuals who are homeless, living in poverty, drug addicted, and/or mentally ill, and who engage in public behaviors which are considered socially unacceptable by mainstream society. The conditions and activities of the severely marginalized are often combined, interrelated, and exacerbate one another (McCarty, Argeriou, Huebner, & Lubran, 1991). This state of affairs offends Canadian ideals and expectations of self-reliance, moral conduct, law abidance, and public order. Unlike multiculturalism programs that seek to bridge and bond diverse cultural and ethnic groups together (Berry, 2013), marginalization involves social exclusion of those seen to be undesirable (Cooley, 2004; Gaetz, 2004).

The process of marginalization is largely driven by public policies which express dominant social attitudes and beliefs (Jensen, 2000). The most significant changes to public perceptions are those resulting from the international paradigm shift away from the central role of government in social and economic policies towards neo-liberalism (Clarke, 2004; Coburn, 2000; Jenson, 1998). Neo-liberal ideology diminishes the state regulation of commerce and the care of disadvantaged citizens. It favours the free market to distribute wealth and power, and emphasizes individual freedom and reliance (Clarke, 2004; Coburn, 2000; Jenson, 1998).

Neo-liberal policies have led to diminished social supports. In the 1980s homelessness increased steeply with the loss of low-cost housing being compounded by drastic reductions in federal housing subsidies. (Gaetz, 2013; Gaetz, Gulliver, & Richter, 2014; Jenson, 1998; McCarty et al., 1991). By the 1990s homelessness was perceived as a ‘problem’, and many Canadians felt the homeless, not the social and economic systems, were to blame for their situation (Gaetz, 2013). During that decade, those living with mental illnesses and addictions experienced government policies of deinstitutionalization, resulting in these individuals returning back to their communities (Anema et al., 2010; Cotton & Coleman, 2010). As well, social assistance funding was significantly decreased to low and non-income earners (Gaetz, 2013; Gaetz et al., 2014; McCarty et al., 1991).

Public sentiments towards the marginalized are also influenced by decontextualization and sensationalism by the news industry (Schissel, 1997). Schissel (1997) accuses the media of “creating images of good and evil that are attached accordingly to preferred and nonpreferred categories of people”. This separateness from mainstream society has increased the vulnerability of the marginalized.

Safety of the Severely Marginalized

Vancouver Downtown Eastside sidewalk market: January 7, 2016

Source: The Vancouver Sun http://www.vancouversun.com/health/many+worse+after+moving+vancouver+downtown+eastside/11635080/story.html

The severely marginalized are increasingly engaged in and victimized by criminal conduct. To survive, those on the margins of mainstream society engage in the “informal economy”(Karabanow et al., 2010); including panhandling, squeegeeing, (Karabanow et al., 2010); prostitution (Farley, Lynne, & Cotton, 2005); and crimes of theft, break and enter, robbery, assault, and drug dealing (Gaetz, 2004). As a consequence, the severely marginalized suffer the worst Canadian public safety outcomes. A study by Farley, Lynne, and Cotton (2005) on Vancouver street level prostitution found ninety percent of subjects had experienced physical assault, with seventy-five percent of these subjects having suffered injuries. The study found that stabbings, beatings, broken bones, and concussions were common occurrences (Farley et al., 2005). In research by Gaetz (2004) nearly eighty-two percent of vulnerable street youth in Toronto were found to have been victims of crime; with close to thirty-two percent of these subjects reporting sexual assaults. Mental health, poverty, homelessness, and high rates of victimization are also recognized to be correlated and to negatively impact each other (Rattelade, Farrell, Aubry, & Klodawsky, 2013; Oreopoulos, 2008). Neo-liberalism posits that individuals make independent decisions regarding their behaviour, and therefore the blame for the outcomes of marginalization has long been placed alone on those suffering (Büyükdamgaci, 2003). As homelessness and public disorder increases, governments are challenged to maintain order and safety.

The evolved response by governments to public sentiments and business lobbying involves a variety of legal prohibitions and sanctions towards the severely marginalized. In Vancouver for instance, homeless camps are challenged through civil court injunctions, panhandling too close to retail businesses is now a bylaw violation, and squeegeeing in traffic is now a provincial offence. As Gaetz (2013) discerns “The criminalization of homelessness in the Canadian context is perhaps instructive in making sense of how neoliberalism is enacted, experienced and shaped by local political, historical and social factors” (p. 358). The policies aimed at suppressing public disorder require implementation through traditional law and order tactics.

The engagement of justice processes situates the police as responsible for dealing directly with the individuals involved. Though some police agencies also collaborate with service agencies and assist people to access their services (Gaetz, 2013), active enforcement is the main approach in most urban centers. Police enforcement also relies on the application of non-specific minor offences, such as jaywalking across traffic, or sleeping in parks past posted closing times. Additionally, the questionable practice of the targeted stopping and searching of marginalized people is used (Gaetz, 2013). At times police agencies have encapsulated the enforcement strategy in such programs as ‘zero tolerance’ and ‘community policing’, both of which place offenders as apart from and condemned by the community at large (Crawford, 1998). The enforcement strategy towards those who are amongst the most victimized in Canadian society raises concerns over its impact on their relationship with police.

Enforcement strategies distance police from those who most need their services. In his study of homeless youth in Toronto Gaetz (2004) found that street youth are profoundly alienated from the police, have little faith in them, and desire to avoid them. It is common knowledge within policing that regular police enforcement actions against individuals usually result in their lower cooperation with justice systems, lower provision of criminal intelligence to police, and lower reporting of crimes. In their alienation from the police, the severely marginalized have become ever more vulnerable.

The Police Practice Problem

The predominant strategy of enforcement by Canadian police towards severely marginalized individuals reflects their understanding of social disorder and how to appropriately respond to it. Police most often see themselves as one component of the larger criminal justice system; resourced with public funds, established and regulated by political bodies, and subject to public and media accountability (Murphy, 2007). As a result, policing reflects prevailing public sentiments and ideologies.

The police response to complex social problems with an enforcement strategy is yielding more than just negative outcomes for those marginalized. Unintended consequences include sustaining core urban areas with high crime, public victimization, and disorder; as well as the failure to realize principles of equity and justice. Police must determine how they will practice policing differently to address the issues raised by the neo-liberal inspired enforcement strategy.

The focal points for transformation lie in the direct relations between police with the severely marginalized and with community members. Jenson (1998) notes that social cohesion is “obviously” based in local community and in terms of “face-to-face contact” (p. 19). Therefore, improved public safety outcomes rely on changes to professional interpretations, knowledge and skills necessary for successful practice in the interactions of officers with severely marginalized individuals. Police perceptions and responses are largely shaped by the complex system in which policing is ensconced.

In order to change relations with the severely marginalized Canadian police need to be mindful of the participants, contexts, and dynamics within the larger community systems. Key constituents at this time include politicians at all government levels, justice systems, the media, business enterprises, communities, the public at large, and of course, the severely marginalized. The situation of the severely marginalized is an ‘ill-defined’ problem as system stakeholders view it differently, have different goals, hold different constraints, assess success on different criteria, and therefore advocate for different solutions (Jenson, 2000; Jonassen, 2011). Any significant alteration of policing ideology and practice therefore cannot be done in isolation of system stakeholders and their cares. Ending the exclusion of those on the outer edges of Canadian society begins with comprehending key elements in the current situation.

Understanding the Practice Problem

A review of interdisciplinary literature provides the insights that favourable safety outcomes within a community are a product of positive and inclusive relationships which are built on trust and that changing the circumstances of the severely marginalized requires a community system paradigm shift. The evidence in police specific literature informs that the police role in communities is centered on managing conflicts and that police organizations and culture resist change. To inform recommendations for improvement of police practices, each of these topics are explored below.

An observation of the academic literature is that considerable research is available in regards to contemporary policing ideology and practices, such as ‘community-based’, ‘zero tolerance’, and ‘broken windows’. These studies were predominately done in the 1980s and 1990s. Post the World Trade Center terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 there appears to have been a diminishment of academic interest in policing practices and a settling of police mindset and strategy in core traditional enforcement approaches. Though dated, the earlier examinations remain relevant due to the stable nature of police organizations and policing ideology. Absolutely unwavering are the foundational social needs of all human beings, which first require investigation.

Attachment and Trust

Human existence involves belonging to an interdependent group (Harari, 2014). Attachment theory states that individuals have a need for a number of unbroken psychological connections with others; and that a lack of these results in depression, guilt, hostility, or other negative reactions (Fonagy, 2018). Research shows that when people spend time together friendships and group allegiances arise spontaneously (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Group attachments become strong when interactions are frequent, long-term, and positive (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Grossman & Grossman, 2006; Rousseau, Sitkin, Burt, & Camerer, 1998). However, the boundary lines of group membership are arbitrary and determined by changing social mores (Schaetti, 2015). The diminished social connection with the severely marginalized in Canada is compounded by the current police emphasis on rule enforcement in dealings with them, creating a distinct divide between “them and us” (Myhill & Bradford, 2013, p. 343).This further exclusion from community may lead to additional mental suffering, physical deterioration, and anti-social behaviours (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Grossman & Grossman, 2006). With social bonds central to health and pro-social conduct (Baumeister & Leary, 1995), police should therefore strive for the attachment of the marginalized to community.

Trust is the very basis of relationships (Brower, Schoorman, & Tan, 2000; Lewicki & Tomlinson, 2014). Attachment theory states that the ability to seek and accept help from others is based on trust (Grossman & Grossman, 2006), with the most basic form of trust being the holding of a positive belief in another’s motives (Rousseau, et al., 1998; Tyler, Jackson, & Mentovich, 2015). At the interpersonal level trust evolves and is shaped by the history, context, interdependence, relative power, relational importance, and form of interactions between individuals (Coleman, Kugler, Bui-Wrzosinska, Nowak & Vallacher, 2012; Rousseau, et al., 1998), and by life experiences and worldviews (Brower, et al., 2000). Building trust relies on elements of friendliness, benevolence, courtesy, consistency, predictability, integrity, fairness, respect, dignity, objectivity, neutrality, and commonalities (Brower, et al., 2000; Simpson, 2013; Tyler, et al., 2015). The complexities of establishing trust need to be understood by police so they may build positive relationships with marginalized individuals.

At a systemic level trust is a “collective attribute” (Lewis & Weigert, 1985, p. 968). Trust distinguishes which institutions individuals rely on for security (Lewis & Weigert, 1985). When a service is responsive to what people care about, the relationship is valued and continued by the recipients (Bretherton, 1995; Lewis & Weigert, 1985). For a police agency to be trusted marginalized populations need to believe that all police officers will act consistently, dutifully, and in a manner attentive to their needs.

Response to Conflict

The interaction with marginalized individuals by police is predominately in response to conflictual circumstances. In their contacts with others the core activity of police is resolving conflicts (Volpe, 2014) through seeking cooperation to control situations, restore order, and resolve problems (Sun, 2003). Police officers address most conflict situations with a traditional quick problem-solving response and avoid addressing the underlying issues, relationships, and systemic dynamics (Fischer, 2011; Goldstein, as cited in Volpe 2014). Fischer (2011) observes that police seldom possess the requisite knowledge and skills of negotiation and mediation. To be effective at dispute resolution, an intervenor must develop a mosaic of theories and practices from which to draw for the specifics of a situation (Deutsch, 2014). Sargent’s (2011) observation that a person’s response to conflict is determined by that person’s definition of it rings true for the police, who most often view the severely marginalized as rule breakers to be dealt with through the enforcement of laws.

The approaches by police to diverse community conflicts are important as these systemic adaptions of differences (Abigail & Cahn, 2011) may have either positive or negative outcomes (Johnson, Johnson, & Tjosvold, 2014). Fisher-Yoshida (2014) explains that conflicts often unfold as habitual patterns of communication that often lead to destructive relationships and deteriorated communities. As with the severely marginalized, conflict may make distinctions between participants more salient and distinguish in-groups and out-groups (Krauss & Morsella, 2014). Deutsch (2014) adds that being against others involves a competitive psychological orientation, whereas being inclusive implies mutuality and a readiness to accept another’s influence. Police must revise their understandings of community conflicts and their forms of intervention involving the severely marginalized - away from divisive enforcement to new approaches that lend themselves to building trust, attachment, and inclusion with police and community.

System Paradigms

Paradigms are the source of a system and altering them changes everything, including beliefs, understandings, values, attitudes, expectations, goals, and assumptions underlying behaviour (Foster-Fishman, Nowell, & Yang, 2007; Meadows, 1999). The desire for a fundamental change in community relationships requires a system paradigm shift (Foster-Fishman, Nowell, & Yang, 2007). The community system paradigm change noted as necessary in this paper is illustrated through marginalization in Figure 1. transforming to inclusion in Figure 2.

Meadows (1999) states that the power to transcend or alter an existing paradigm to achieve desired outcomes is the most powerful and effective available leverage for change. In most situations the means to alter the existing paradigm will be through noting its failings, introducing a new paradigm through individuals with public visibility and power, and appealing to the “middle ground of people who are open-minded” (Meadows, 1999, p. 18). Failing the ability for such sweeping transformation, leverage next comes from the power of stakeholders to collectively amend common goals, self-organize, and change system structures (Meadows, 1999). It is essential that the police participate in and respond to shifts in community paradigms.

Police Resistance

Proactive transformation of views and practices is inconsistent with a profession that enforces laws and standards created by exterior authorities. Policing is the creation of and governed by political and justice system forces. With policing having an essential function within a complex system it is subject not only to diverse pressures, but also numerous layers of oversight and scrutiny. Change in police perspectives and approaches have most often not occurred from professional self-reflection, but rather from formidable exterior critiques and directives, such as from Public Inquiries, Royal Commissions of Inquiry, court rulings, changes in law, Coroner’s Inquests, and media reporting. As a result, policing practice has little of what Jonassen (2011) terms as dynamicity. With others responsible for establishing laws and interpretations, police organizations not only seldom pursue internal change, but resist pressures for change as well (Lingamnent, 1979).

Police organizations currently view enforcement strategies as efficient and effective at meeting crime control targets (Myhill & Bradford, 2013). Introducing new processes entails new burdens of additional training, resources, and changes in organizational rewards (Volpe, 2014). Change in any organization is also resisted to maintain organizational stability and to satisfy career, reputation, and other internal political interests (Büyükdamgaci, 2003; Zweibelson, 2012). With policing secure in its public service monopoly there is preference for the familiarity of the status quo over making any necessary transformations (Zweibelson, 2012).

Police culture resists changing the mindset that citizens are to be circumvented or overcome and are not suitable for partnership (Myhill & Bradford, 2013). Operational police culture offers psychological protection through suspicion, solidarity, conservatism, machismo, prejudices, pragmatism, cynicism, pessimism, and an action orientation (Myhill & Bradford, 2013). All people, including police officers, respond to the world on the meanings they make of others and events, influenced by their sense of self, core beliefs, values, and assumptions (Anderson & Ackerman-Anderson, 2010; Schaetti, 2015). Police officers’ identities and interactions are formed by the interpersonal skills that they are trained, experienced, and supported in using (Schaetti, 2015). The police organization’s entrenched views shape officers’ relations to severely marginalized individuals.

The literature indicates that police mindsets do need to change. Officers who view people as different than themselves treat them with indifference, lack concern for their problems, and handle disputes dismissively (Sun, 2003). Negative encounters erode trust and create the perception that police officers cannot provide help, are not compassionate, and only seek to arrest people (Rafailovitc, 2018). When suspicion and mistrust are communicated the relationship between individuals and the police is undermined (Tyler, et al., 2015). In contrast, officers who come to view people as being similar to themselves treat others with courtesy and fairness, have concern for their problems, and consider people deserving of assistance (Sun, 2003). This approach minimizes provocation, enhances police intervention legitimacy, promotes trust, and increases citizen compliance (Sun, 2003; Tyler, et al., 2015). Therefore, revised worldviews held by police organizations, in which the situation of the marginalized is understood as a consequence of life circumstances and social policies, can lead to compassionate, caring and inclusive engagements with them.

Discussion and Recommendations for Changing Police Practice

The literature identifies matters for transformation, as well as barriers to change. Recommendations to address these begin with identifying leadership for paradigm change and establishing leadership in police organizations. Creating new police collaborative approaches, changing police interactions with the severely marginalized, and learning new conflict management practices follow.

Paradigm Change Leadership

The systemic paradigm transformation from exclusion to inclusion of the severely marginalized requires leadership. The ethics and language of such change is undoubtedly political in nature. Recognizing that revisions of police philosophy are primarily only in reaction to compelling exterior forces, the first requirement to achieve change is to have a political directive created which commands the fundamental conversion of police understandings and approaches.

Police Change Leadership

Research indicates that most leadership in North American police agencies is transactional in style, in which a system of rewards and punishments motivates compliance throughout the organization (Sarver & Miller, 2014). This approach is favoured by both leaders and subordinates as it provides a sureness of tasks and processes (Sarver & Miller, 2014). However, for the paradigm shift as envisioned in this paper, there must be a leadership style within police organizations that produces many needed changes. Due to the stringent rank structure and control within police culture, the Chief Executive Officer of a police agency is normally the most important strategic initiator capable of integrating community values into an agency's mission, vision, strategy, operating plans, and services (Ortmeier, 2010). Careful selection of leaders with the necessary knowledge and skills is required. Meeting revised community goals will require the further education and training of police leaders to become effective agents of change both in their agencies and in community systems. Police leaders need to develop the competencies to create a consistent organizational vision, transmit it, and translate it in to constructive action (Ortmeier, 2010).

Collaborations with Community

To adapt to a new community paradigm, police organizations, police culture, and police methods for providing services must change radically (Ortmeier, 2010). In order to revolutionize their strategies to community conflicts, police must “enter a transitional space with the freedom to explore creating new systems or patterns” (Nan, 2011, p. 254). In this reflective process police need to examine their own communications and use of power, and most importantly engage in extensive dialogue with community members (Schneider, 1999).

Police possess a significant measure of authority, credibility, and independence (Ortmeier, 2010) and therefore are in a unique position to invite all community members, inclusive of the severely marginalized, to engage in new collective dialogues concerning the marginalized, community relationships, and how conflicts might be understood and responded to. This means identifying the system boundaries as containing all stakeholders with influence over social, human, political, and economic assets (Saegert, 2006). Police organizations need to develop what Coleman (2018) terms “conflict intelligence and systemic wisdom” (p. 27). Critical to finding mutual understandings and collaborative solutions is having everyone’s voice heard and taken seriously (Cheney, Beck & Clin, 2013; Krauss & Morsella, 2014). In any new community dialogues the police must become curious, listen intently, display sincerity and compassion, set a tone of open and stimulated debate, and ask the right and difficult questions (McGinnis, 2013; Schneider, 1999). Engagements should consciously build trust, enduring relationships, understandings, empathy, productive confrontation, and constructive working together (Fisher, 2014). From diverse information, multiple perspectives, and consideration of effects on stakeholders can come shared perceptions, common goals, community empowerment, more effective responses, and reduced community conflicts (Cheney, Beck & Clin, 2013; Foster-Fishman, Nowell, & Yang, 2007; Schneider, 1999; Kahane, 2003; McGinnis, 2013; Swenson & Rigoni, 1999). Billingham (2013) notes that “Engaging stakeholders in defining problems and finding solutions keeps the burden where it belongs, shared across the entire system and not just on one part of it”. Police leaders would benefit from acquiring facilitation, planning, and conflict resolution skills for work with community. Community engagements must lead to action plans.

When the severely marginalized are considered as equal community members in need of compassion, understanding, and support, changes to relationships and activities with them need to occur. A theory of change, which identifies the logical casual linkages between proposed actions to desired outcomes, needs to be established so that interim and long-term goals are achieved. A common theory of change provides stakeholders with a planning and management tool, a vehicle for participant empowerment, a guide to resource allocation, and a way of communicating with others (Connell & Kubisch, 1998). The development of plausible and doable processes of change benefits not only from system’s stakeholder insights, but also social science knowledge, and learnings from comparable experiences (Connell & Kubisch, 1998). Comprehensive and shared understandings also assist in locating strategic levers for change (Foster-Fishman, Nowell, & Yang, 2007). In the end, solutions will involve concrete undertakings for social, physical, and economic changes (Saegert, 2006).

The efficacy of a police department is indeed now dependent upon their ability to undertake real collective action (Schneider, 1999). Combining policing strategies with those of sanitation, business, parks, and other community stakeholders has been successful in bettering urban areas (Johnson, Golub, & McCabe, 2010). Agencies that break down silos and collectively develop wrap-around services have provided better outcomes for the homeless, substance abusers, and mentally ill (Normore, Ellis, & Bone, 2016). Police involvement on a social service Board of Directors that allocated funding and where police had a vote helped attain successful outcomes for the homeless (Rafailovitc, 2018). To be successful, the collaborative approach to policing must be sustained over the long-term (Foster-Fishman, Nowell, & Yang, 2007; Schneider, 1999).

Police Practice Change

The most direct component in changing the situation of the severely marginalized are the on-on-one encounters in the field with police officers. The socially and economically disadvantaged are already less willing to work with the police (Wehrman & Abgelis, 2011). This willingness changes when individual police officers become known to people and positive relationships engendered (Wehrman & Abgelis, 2011). To build trust police agencies must assign specific officers to establish stable relationships with target individuals and populations and train all officers in the new strategy with respect to the severely marginalized. Due to the power differential between police and citizens, communications require language, assumptions, and metaphors that diminish this asymmetrical relationship (Schneider, 1999). Interpersonal communications must become authentic and involve exchanges in which mutual learning is experienced (Schneider, 1999).

With conflict management a primary function of policing, there is a need for police to acquire more mindful management models which are consistent with building trust and relationships. Possible models which contain more complex understandings and responses to conflicts than the violation-enforcement paradigm include Interest-based for problem-solving (Fisher & Ury, 1981), Insight for learning (Picard & Melchin, 2007), Narrative for reshaping constructs of reality (Winslade & Monk, 2008), and Restorative Justice for when harm has been done (Zehr, 2014). Increased conflict knowledge and skills enhances the abilities of police officers to better manage the complexities in community differences involving the severely marginalized.

Summary of Recommendations:

1. Identify political leadership who will transform the community paradigm in regards to the severely marginalized to one of inclusion, and will direct police leaders accordingly

2. Ensure police leaders possess the leadership competencies necessary for police organizations to adopt the new paradigm and to provide police officers the associated knowledge and skills for new practices

3. Establish an inclusive long-term community stakeholder group where open, honest, and respectful dialogue is facilitated to create a theory of change, goals, collaborations, and action plans

4. Design and implement police officer outreach and new conflict response practices towards severely marginalized individuals

Northwest corner Carrall and Hastings Streets, Vancouver Downtown Eastside, Midday, February 3, 2020

Conclusions

The dire state of the severely marginalized and the associated diminished safety outcomes for them and the community is a result of neo-liberal inspired polices and worldviews. These outcomes offend overarching Canadian values of equity and social justice. To fulfill these national ideals within the current social and economic realities requires collective conversations on how to build more inclusive, civil, and safer communities. The foundation for this is recognizing the severely marginalized as equal members of our communities and building trust and relationships with them.

For the police as first responders to the conflicts between the severely marginalized and other community members, achieving these goals will require dedicated leadership, significant reflection, and deep police organizational change. As Canadian police organizations are well defended against change, this will be a difficult task. As a service that does respond to authoritative exterior directives, it seems that change must first be commanded by political authorities.

Should there be success in establishing more harmonious and supportive communities for the severely marginalized, new challenges and further formulations of the system paradigm may be required (Mitroff, Alpaslan, & Green, 2004). Profoundly new relationships by police with the severely marginalized and with community stakeholders raises new topics for research (Machi & McEvoy, 2016). Questions arise over the overall impact on policing approaches, policing culture, and community safety outcomes when the understandings of and strategies toward one identifiable group are dramatically changed. In the end, policing of the severely marginalized must either fulfill overarching Canadian values, or Canada will need to redefine what its fundamental beliefs are.

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