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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:58 am
Time: 12:58 am
Results for policing minority groups
1 results foundAuthor: Jones, Nicholas A. Title: First Nations Policing: A Review of the Literature Summary: Although there are almost 70,000 police officers in Canada, fewer than 2,000 are directly engaged in Aboriginal policing (Burczycka, 2013). While representing a very small proportion of all Canadian officers and policing budgets, the manner in which First Nations communities are policed has profound long-term implications for the residents living there, especially given the high rates of crime and victimization in many of these places. The populations at risk of victimization are not isolated to the First Nations territories, and crimes often displace into other adjacent urban and rural communities. In addition, most Aboriginal Canadians live off-reserve and some of these individuals move between their home communities and urban areas. As a result, the after-effects of an offence may be felt in places far away from where they originated, making this an issue of importance to all Canadians. In order to better understand the challenges of Aboriginal policing, this review first presents a context that includes a review of Aboriginal population trends and the demographic characteristics of that population. The fact that the Aboriginal population is the fastest growing population group in Canada, and the youngest, has long-term implications for police services both on- and off-reserve. Consistent with other research, we found that rates of crime and victimization on many First Nations were very high. In addition to the impacts on victims, high crime rates have a corrosive effect on community relationships and especially opportunities that are lost. When responding to the after-effects of crimes that have already occurred and trying to prevent future offences consumes much of the creativity of a community, leaders lose opportunities to work toward job creation, promoting healthy lifestyles and relationships, helping youngsters succeed, or spending scarce resources on developing a community's infrastructure rather than repairing the damages caused by crime. Having established a context for this study, a historical overview of Aboriginal policing in Canada is presented. This is an important undertaking as academics, policymakers and practitioners often forget the lessons of history. As a result, crime prevention or reduction strategies that were unsuccessful in the past are sometimes re-introduced and unless there have been changes in the way that these 'recycled' interventions are delivered - or the context into The social phenomenon of First Nations peoples moving between the reserve and urban centers is called "churning." which they are delivered - we are often destined to repeat the mistakes of the past. An additional challenge of delivering police services in a nation as culturally, geographically and regionally diverse as Canada is that an intervention that is successful or promising in one jurisdiction might not be as successful in another province, community or First Nation. Consequently, by learning the lessons of history we are less likely to be confronted with unforeseen or unanticipated outcomes after new crime reduction strategies are introduced. It has been said that the past is prologue and our review of the historical context for Aboriginal policing revealed that many of the challenges that existed in the past are present today, such as a lack of resources for police services or the difficulty in engaging communities in the informal regulation of activities that bolster the social fabric and help reduce crime. The historical review is followed by an overview of the evolution of Aboriginal policing in Canada and in that section; the following policy-related areas where our knowledge is not fully developed were identified: - Resourcing / Funding - Administrative Capacity - Policing Arrangements - Aboriginal Policing as a Distinct Policing Model - Responding to Crime and Victimization The gap in our understanding of these five issues is due to a lack of timely and relevant research. In some cases, the answers to these questions might already exist, but researchers have not taken the time to collect and analyze this information and then report it back to police organizations. One of the challenges of policing research is that most of the studies that occur take place in urban areas, and this focus on 'big city' policing does not help us understand evidence-based practices or "what works" in responding to rural crime or best practices in Aboriginal policing. A second challenge is that policing research is also fragmented in Canada and there is a lack of coordination that reduces duplication and decreases efficiency. Our analyses revealed that there are three distinct types of agencies policing Aboriginal communities and peoples and that each type faces a different set of challenges that are shaped by their role and geographic location as well as organizational size and history: - Large networked police organizations, such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and Surete du Quebec (SQ) of which we have a good understanding of their priorities and information about these agencies is generally available. The RCMP, specifically, provides enhanced police services to First Nations communities through Community Tripartite Agreements (CTA), i.e., agreements between the federal and provincial governments, and one or more First Nation communities. - Self administered Aboriginal police services (SA), that range from small stand-alone agencies such as the File Hills First Nations Police Service (under ten officers) to larger regional police services such as the Nishnawbe-Aski Police (NAPS), of which we have comparatively less understanding of their practices and their approaches to policing. - Specialized Aboriginal policing programs delivered by municipal or regional police services, such as the Aboriginal Peacekeeping Unit in Toronto and the Diversity and Aboriginal Policing Section in Vancouver, of which we have almost no understanding of their priorities, practices or inter-relationships with other Aboriginal policing services. Each of these police services is apt to respond to the challenges of crime in a different manner and it is likely that some of the crime reduction strategies developed by these organizations are very effective, although this information has not been consistently disseminated to the policing and academic communities. In respect to crime-reduction strategies, it is possible that responding to the knowledge gaps identified above can be addressed by better understanding best practices in other English-speaking common law nations, such as Australia, New Zealand and the United States as these countries also have large Aboriginal populations and legacies of British colonialism. Section V provides a brief overview of Aboriginal policing models in these nations. Again, we find that many strategies appear promising, but there is a lack of research-based information about whether these approaches are effective crime reduction strategies, and to a lesser extent, how to deliver these services in a cost-effective manner. Aboriginal policing is part of the larger Canadian policing environment - one that is evolving in ways that may have strong implications for police services overall (Murphy, 2007). Currently, Canadian policing is in a period of transition, due in large part to a global process in the adoption of private-sector managerial and organizational values and strategies in the hope of producing greater fiscal accountability, cost efficiency, return on policing investments and value for money (Ruddell & Jones, 2013). Given these larger social and political forces, the next few years will shape the future of Aboriginal policing. In March 2013, the federal government announced that federal funding for the First Nations Policing Program (FNPP) would be extended for the next five years, and this time-frame provides the funding stability for First Nations, Aboriginal stakeholder groups, federal and provincial policymakers and police leaders to chart the course for the future. Addressing the policy-related questions raised in this review of the literature provides these stakeholders a framework that will provide the evidence-based information needed to inform that undertaking. Details: Regina, SK: Collaborative Centre for Justice and Safety, University of Regina, 2014. 147p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 18, 2015 at: http://www.justiceandsafety.ca/rsu_docs/aboriginal-policing-literature-review-092014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Canada URL: http://www.justiceandsafety.ca/rsu_docs/aboriginal-policing-literature-review-092014.pdf Shelf Number: 135697 Keywords: AboriginalsEvidence-Based PracticesIndigenous PeoplesPolice AdministrationPolicingPolicing Minority Groups |