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LA POLITIQUE SUR LA POLICE DES PREMIÈRES NATIONS : UNE AVANCÉE EN MATIÈRE DE GOUVERNANCE?
Laura Aubert
Centre international de criminologie comparée, Université de Montréal
Mylène Jaccoud
Centre international de criminologie comparée, Université de Montréal
This article presents the results of an empirical study on Aboriginal police services in Quebec. It conducts an inventory of their conditions of operation and it puts into perspective these conditions with respect to the objectives of the First Nations Policing Policy in order to see if Aboriginal police services constitute or not a form of governance. Our results show that although Aboriginal police services have – on paper – the same powers and privileges as regular police forces and seem likely to be equally effective, the means at their disposal are much lower than those allocated to other police forces even though they deal with heavier social problems. In fine, our results question the real political will of federal and provincial governments to apply the objectives of the First Nations Policing Policy, more specifically to promote autonomy of First Nations.
"WE NEVER REFER TO OURSELVES AS A LOBBY GROUP BECAUSE 'LOBBY GROUP' HAS A DIFFERENT CONNOTATION": VOLUNTARY POLICE ASSOCIATIONS AND THE FRAMING OF THEIR INTEREST GROUP WORK
Laura Huey and Danielle Hryniewicz
Department of Sociology, University of Western Ontario
The police, like other groups in civil society, have a vested interest in the outcome of government policy deliberations. Collectively, they often attempt to advance policy agendas through several lobbying techniques that suggest that their voluntary associations could be properly understood as interest groups. And yet, there is often ambivalence or a deep reluctance on the part of police organizations to characterize their politicking as interest group work. In the present article, we draw on interviews, media reports and various other materials to elucidate some of the rhetorical strategies used to recast police interest-group work. Further, we explain the reluctance of police leader groups to be seen as overtly political and contrast this to attitudes held by police rank-and-file groups that more openly characterize their interest group work as “lobbying.” The overall goal of this article is to contribute to a surprisingly thin literature on the politics of the police.
THE PERSISTENCE OF STATUS OFFENCES IN THE YOUTH JUSTICE SYSTEM
Jane B. Sprott
Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Ryerson University
The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) has been successful in removing minor cases from formal youth court processing. Whether in relation to police charging, guilty findings in court, or the use of custody, there have been considerable reductions. However, this article argues that Canada continues to struggle with keeping status-type offences (e.g., failing to comply with bail or probation conditions) out of the youth justice system. While other minor types of offences were declining before the YCJA came into effect, failing to comply offences needed legislative change to reduce their rates, and the greatest, sustained reductions have been seen in the areas of the YCJA that are specific and leave little ambiguity. The less specific areas of the Act have, on the other hand, allowed for increases with respect to these types of offences. Failing to comply with bail conditions appears to be particularly difficult to remove from formal youth court processing, and questions are raised in the article about whether these types of case are being created by the courts themselves.
THE IMPACT OF THE 2010 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES ON CRIME IN VANCOUVER
Martin A. Andresen
School of Criminology, Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies, Simon Fraser University
William Tong
School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University
There is little research on exceptional events and crime. Yet exceptional events, such as natural disasters, worldwide political meetings, and international sporting competitions, affect the lifestyles and routines of large numbers of people. In this article, we examine the impact of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games on assault, theft, mischief, and prostitution in Vancouver neighbourhoods. Overall, there is no evidence to support the claim that the Olympic Games affected all crime types and in all places. However, we do find increases in assault that relate to the Olympic Games in a few key neighbourhoods. As with previous research, it appears that the substantial increase in the number of security personnel (police, military, etc.) mitigated the potential increase in crime.
POLICE WITNESS INTERVIEW TRAINING, SUPERVISION, AND FEEDBACK: A SURVEY OF CANADIAN POLICE OFFICERS
Brent Snook
Department of Psychology, Memorial University of Newfoundland
John C. House
Royal Newfoundland Constabulary
Sarah MacDonald and Joseph Eastwood
Department of Psychology, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Despite the recognized importance of intensive training for producing effective police interviewers and the importance of sustained supervision and feedback in maintaining learned interviewing skills, there is no empirical data on the current state of such practices in Canadian police organizations. Canadian police officers (N=171) from two organizations completed an online survey about the training, supervision, and feedback received for interviewing adult witnesses. Officers reported that their training was limited and came from several disparate sources, and many officers expressed a lack of satisfaction with the interview training that they had received. The majority of officers also indicated that it was rare for them to receive supervision or feedback from their supervisors on their interviews or refresher training to help them maintain their skills. The implications of these findings for police interviewing practices and the potential to use these results to improve current witness interviewing practices in Canada are discussed.
