Conférence de l'ACSCMO 2022

Nationally, police oversight agency budgets have remained the same or have been reduced over the past number of years.

While federal, provincial and territorial governments manage budgetary impacts arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, civilian oversight agencies and police professional responsibility units must continue to meet public expectations and deliver on their mandates during the current fiscally challenging context.

This session will:

• examine initiatives & operational changes that have produced efficiencies/effectiveness
• offer insight into how those involved in police oversight can streamline or automatize certain operations
• address how to continue to serve the public and meet respective legislative mandates
• discuss what other drivers, aside from cost pressures, may be acting as impetus for change.

In a 2016 report entitled "A Matter of Life and Death," the Ombudsman of Ontario commented that police training is focused on seeking compliance with police commands from rational people. While this approach is often successful with rational people, it too often escalates the situation with a person in crisis and a different approach is required.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci reached similar conclusions in his 2014 independent review into the Toronto Police Service's approach to persons in crisis:

"The challenge, and one of the most critical requirements for police, is to know how to de-escalate a crisis involving a person who, as a result of what is effectively a transient or permanent mental disability, may not respond appropriately (or at all) to standard police commands."

This session will:

• examine how police training is evolving including the impact of mandatory annual training
• discuss approaches police services are taking to change the way they respond to persons in crisis
• highlight best practices for mental health crisis response and discuss emerging strategies for response to people in crisis
• examine if and how policing standards can be leveraged, and the role oversight bodies can play in improving service to underserved/vulnerable communities
• analyze de-escalation techniques to determine which can be most effective in reducing the use of force required when dealing with a person in crisis

In 2020-21, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (SECU) heard from representatives from community organizations providing services to, or advocating on behalf of, racialized communities and Indigenous peoples; academics studying law, policing, and racism; and members and leaders of Canadian police services and police organizations.

In its report, SECU concluded that a transformative national effort is required to ensure that all Indigenous, Black and other racialized people in Canada are not subject to the discrimination and injustice that is inherent in the system as it exists today.

As the civilian overseers of police conduct, the nature and impact of systemic racism and discrimination is our business to recognize, understand and address, as issues of implicit and explicit bias can influence the public's trust in policing.

This session will:

• Build on our learnings from the previous year and explore the most effective frameworks for equity being established across our industry today.
• Highlight the work undertaken by community leaders and allow us to hear firsthand their ideas & strategies to address the issues of systemic racism and discrimination in both law enforcement and oversight agencies.

Many Indigenous communities are unaware of the police complaints system, lack trust in it and/or fear reprisal should they avail themselves of it.

According to Statistics Canada's 2020 General Social Survey (GSS) on Social Identity, one in five Indigenous people have little or no confidence in police and data from the 2019 GSS on Canadians' Safety (Victimization), indicates that approximately one in three Indigenous people said that police were performing poorly in at least one part of their job. 

This session will:

• examine the role police oversight must play in reconciliation
• discuss best practices for building partnerships with Indigenous leaders & community groups
• outline steps that oversight agencies and police services can take to become appropriately culturally aware 
• provide advice as to ways to meaningfully engage Indigenous people in the public complaint process

This panel will examine issues currently facing civilian oversight agencies and police services- both ongoing matters as well as emerging challenges.

Conference participants - whether attending in-person or virtually - will have the opportunity to engage with the panel to discuss and debate issues affecting policing in 2022.

CACOLE President Michelaine Lahaie will moderate the discussion and attendees will be encouraged to share lessons learned and best practices that promote public safety and the delivery of police services in Canada.

Topics will include:

• Innovative approaches to addressing jurisdictional challenges
• Administrative challenge of processing complaints following large-scale events (such as protests)
• Use of video recordings including citizen journalism footage and the presence or absence of body worn camera footage
• Public engagement including tools available to disseminate information related to civilian oversight and police accountability