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Police Educational Models & Dissent

POLICE EDUCATIONAL MODELS & PUBLIC DISSENT

Luis Alberto D’Elía

University of Alberta, AB, CANADA

CESE CONFERENCE 2006 – Granada - SPAIN

Luis Alberto D’Elia: 3852 110 St., Edmonton, AB, CANADA T6J 1E4

Ph: [780] 438-0635; e-mail:

DEDICATION

To my lovely and supportive wife and children. To those who have been tortured and killed for peacefully protesting.


ABSTRACT

The need of state representatives to meet without disturbances appears to collide with the need of protesters to publicly critic and denounce actions by those state authorities. Police are positioned between the two. How much the police understand the dynamics, the power and interests in public protest, and, consequently how well can they manage public demonstrations and uphold human rights?

Canada has had significant police-public demonstration interactions at international gatherings in the last decade. There have been serious concerns about the way the police interacted with the crowds at most--but not all--of the intergovernmental meetings.

Given the important human rights implications that the police response to the protesting public has in demonstrations, I have recently studied some aspects of Canadian police officers’ education and their influence in upholding the protestors’ rights or abusing them. With original data collected in Canada and in Europe, my study compares two continental approaches and further examines particular theoretical assumptions that inform a particular Canadian police program planning, filling the apparent vacuum in this area of research. In my analysis, the Canadian police service’s training programs studied in Western Canada have institutional and planning constraints that appear to limit their ability to deliver the community servicing goals and do little to promote the need of the modern police to understand and uphold the rights of peaceful dissenters. Theoretical assumptions of alternative, democratic and community-based educational planning models are briefly discussed here.

In the end, if the improvement in the planning process is to be effective, important power asymmetries among the police institutional players have to be addressed. Positive strategies like the one discussed here will give the Canadian police educational programs’ planners and trainers more realistic opportunities to commit the law enforcers to uphold the right of the community to dissent without fear of police.

INTRODUCTION

Research question. My research question focuses on the education program designs for law enforcement personnel. More specifically, I investigate the appropriateness of specific Canadian police’s educational programs that, besides other inherent roles, are supposed to prepare officers to respond to the protesting public. Or in simple terms, my question is, “How prepared are our police officers to police public demonstrations?”

The paradox here is that, as police officers engage in keeping the peace, in protecting the human rights of their citizens, and in enforcing the law of the State, many Western states have taken legislative steps and adopted law enforcement policies, which, in many cases, undermine basic human rights in those countries (Amnesty International [AI] 2002b; AI Canadian Section [AICS] 2003; AI Canadian Section [AICS] 2006; Human Rights Watch [HRW], 2002; HRW, 2006). Furthermore, historically, the use of security legislation and security--especially in cases where there has been a ‘war’ against political opponents--has led to human rights violations (AI; AICS; HRW). How are police officers to respond to these conflicting situations? How prepared are they to respond without violating basic rights of their citizens?

Police powers: relevance of police education. After the events of September 11, 2001, new security legislation has given Canadian police new powers (Law Commission of Canada, [LCC], 2003a). Police naturally will be in the position to enforce security legislation and, in order to do so will use their acquired special powers (AICS, 2003; HRW, 2006; McMaster, 2002; Mitrovica, 2003). In spite of police having more powers to make citizens comply with the new security legislation, law enforcement officials still have much discretion[1] over the use of those powers. In turn, the police officers’ use of those discretionary powers is greatly influenced by their police training and education (Sewell, 1985; Inspector B. Boden, personal communication, April 2002; C. Braiden, personal communication, Jan 14, 2003).

In Canada, though public police training and education take different forms, a number of these police programs share common teaching and program-planning approaches. Furthermore, in the cases familiar to the author, including the case under study, those programs appear to be guided by a traditional, classical and structuralist theory of education (Wotherspoon, 1998) and the planning approach follows hierarchical, rigid, less-democratic models than designs adopted in Europe (D’Elia, 2002). This observation concurs with Stansfield’s finding (Stansfield, 1996) with respect to the Ontario Police College (OPC) recruit-training program which was found to follow the “old education paradigm” discussed by Ferguson (in Stansfield, 1996, P.85). This paradigm is characterized as a “rigid, hierarchical, authoritatian, and content-oriented structure…” (ibid).

THE MARKET AND THE CANADIAN POLICE PROGRAMS

Ericson and Stansfield (Ericson, 1982; Stansfield, 1996) charge that it is unfortunate that police have become reproducers of societal order. This critique will likely oppose the human capital concept of education for police since human capital is a reproductive concept.

Nevertheless, in the police educational program studied, I question whether the conceptualization of the role of adult education as reproductive is apparent. The question is important since, if an institution subscribes to the human capital interpretation of education, its programs will likely priorize the techno-scientific transfer of knowledge possibly to the detriment of integrating socio-cultural issues and to the loss of interest in community concerns. If these societal concerns are sacrificed, a program will not be appropriate to prepare learners to advocate for the community, least of all to understand and to respond to a community that voices dissent.

A more recent observation of mine is that there is a push from private industry (with a market-driven agenda within the neo-liberal framework) to increase the role of private security in policing (that traditionally has been a public domain) in North America and Australia (LCC, 2003). Almost simultaneously, international and national educational policy-setting organizations are also acting as though the private financing of lifelong learning is a “necessity”(Grace, 2002). This dual thrust of global privatization lobbying (from the educational field and from the policing domain) may account for the fact that the police program studied has remained anchored in a program planning model that appears to follow human capital concepts and that endorses instrumental and reproductive practices in its delivery (de Lint, 1998; D’Elia, 2002). My concern is that a program that inherently reproduces institutional and societal inequities and injustices will not be adequate to prepare police officers to understand and respect citizens who challenge the establishment. Nevertheless, the present study does assess the extent to which either that instrumental education does or does not intersect with social and cultural education, or whether the issues of accessibility and fairness in societal representation are entrenched in the program. These considerations may well represent an area for other research.

CANADIAN POLICE EDUCATIONAL PLANNING ISSUES

My position. The educational models and theory followed by the public Canadian police training-program planning studied serves the police little in achieving their professed goal of responding to community needs which demands social and cultural considerations. Even though the studied program derives quality pedagogical value through interesting partnerships (such as with the university), and recently developed community-sensitive educational strategies, structural constraints and power asymmetries inherent in the institution likely thwart the educators' efforts to respond to the philosophy of the police institution (i.e. policing to achieve a safe, healthy, and self-reliant community). This philosophy points primarily to the need of police to serve the community. Given this police philosophical framework, I argue that the chosen program-planning model further limits the ability of the institution to respond to its ultimate aim of responding to community needs. Moreover, the lack of a participatory, experiential and comprehensive human rights education before or after graduation of student police officers puts these well-intentioned officers at a disadvantage when trying to advocate for the community. This advocacy is not a choice; it is a way to realize their police’s raison d'être. In addition, this shortcoming, coupled with the lack of consistent community input into the police educational programs, will make it difficult for police officers to uphold the rights of political dissenters to peacefully protest.

To address these problems, I suggest looking at educational experiences in other police services and considering the benefits of democratizing the police educational system, that includes the adoption of more experiential, holistic, inclusive and flexible educational ways of planning. An alternative planning model should be flexible enough to integrate the socio-political-communal context, to negotiate the stakeholders’ diverse interests, and to address issues of equity and inclusion within asymmetrical power relationships in order to be accountable and to respond to the needs of the citizens in their communities. At the same time, I propose the implementation of a participatory, experiential and critical pedagogy in human rights education following international policing recommendations (AI, 1998; Crawshaw, 1998; United Nations High Commission on Human Rights [UNHCHR], 1998).

THE RESEARCH

Personal reasons for engaging in this study. As a survivor of police and military brutality in my country of origin, Argentina, I have a special interest and a long-term commitment to contribute to the study of police education and to help prevent human rights violations by security forces. Moreover, and after knowing many Canadian and international police officers over a decade, I am more conscious of their struggle to respond to their vocational commitment to serve the community and to protect the people. I am also aware of (and understand) many of the stressful situations they face in which they have to make a conscious choice either to follow their principles or to fall into a police subculture that separates them from their community.

ROADMAP

My proposal. In searching for responses to the questions presented above, I propose to look critically at program design aspects of particular Canadian police education and training that are important in shaping police conduct in managing protesting crowds. Specifically, I present possible improvements to the design of a specific police recruit and professional development program that will make it more appropriate for preparing officers for policing public protest. The long-term goal is to contribute to new and creative models that will enhance police-community relationship dynamics.

Personal commitment. I am engaged in constructive discussions between relevant community agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and police about police training and education strategies that address issues such as the ones discussed in this project.

My personal influence in the research. The inclusion in this work of my own experience with police and protesting groups may influence my perspective on the study. For this reason, I am determined to examine my own assumptions and to document the eventual process of change that I may experience (Mertens, 1998).

METHODOLOGY

Broad Plan. My plan is to use my own qualitative data compiled in Canada and in Europe and to discuss pertinent primary/secondary research literature. Since some of the data collection was done prior to the writing of this paper, I reflect critically on the criteria and reasons that guided that data collection, and I discuss how I could have done it better in order to conform more closely with specific quality qualitative research criteria. Given the nature of my topic (specialized education that is not always part of the university programs), I draw from work listed in interdisciplinary databases as well as databases that lie outside the education sphere. Moreover, to get other, non-American perspectives on these issues, I cite some European or international work in the area.

SECURITY DISCOURSE AND POLICE RESPONSES

The Security Context and Police Power

As a result of new security powers, Canadian police are in a position to, for example, deny people access to certain areas and restrict freedom of movement at large intergovernmental meetings (such as international summits, e.g., APEC in Vancouver, Quebec’s Summit of the Americas and the G8 meeting in Kananaskis). However, as demonstrated in the policing of some of these meetings, police have used some of their discretionary powers in making crucial decisions that have had social implications. Particular illustrations are found in the 1997 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vancouver: (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation [CBC], 1999 & 2001; RCMP, 2001); in the 2000’s Quebec City-Summit of the Americas (AI, May 22, 2001); in the demonstrations around the G8 meeting in Kananaskis (the author’s own accounts, June 22-27, 2002; Calgary Sun, 2002; J. Rubenstein[2], personal communication, June 26, 2002; The Globe and Mail, 2002); the APEC meeting in 2004 (DFAITC, 2004) and others (Global Issues, 2006). At the Quebec’s intergovernmental meeting there were confirmed reports of the police’s excessive use of tear gas on peaceful protesters who were not posing any threat to property or police, the use of plastic bullets in unjustified situations where safety was not a concern, abuses of the rights of the detainees, and other (AI, 2001a). By contrast, the reported police respect of peaceful demonstrators (and vice versa) in Calgary around the G8 meeting attests to the capacity of police to act more ethically when relating to protesting crowds and upholding the demonstrators’ rights to peaceful protest.

Police education and officers’ decision-making. Without considering the political interference factor (that is, the constraints imposed by a particular authority on police’s freedom to make ethical and professional decisions) (RCMP, 2001), Canadian police “excesses” that result in human rights violations can be the product of decisions made by the police management or rank officers whose decisions are informed by their education and training (Sewell, 1985). At least that seems to be the case for some European police services (Council of Europe, 1991; F. Vijlbrie[3], personal communication, March 15, 2002; Inspector B. Boden[4], personal communication, March, 2002; R. Crawshaw[5], personal communication, April 2002).

Canadian police training and education in general differ significantly from non-North American police programs (i.e., police from Western Europe). In the particular Canadian case critiqued by the author, the difference will have an impact in the way the trained police officers interact with the community, and consequently with political demonstrators and dissenters. In a qualitative study done during January-April, 2002, I analyzed a Canadian police-training program and compared it to recognized program planning models and contrasted it with European police models that I studied.