NCJ Number
132727
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology Volume: 33 Issue: 3-4 Dated: (July-October 1991) Pages: 555-563
Date Published
1991
Length
9 pages
Annotation
"A Vision of the Future of Policing in Canada: Police Challenge 2000" fails to successfully address Canada's most persistently perplexing issue of policing in a multicultural society.
Abstract
Normandeau and Leighton make three common errors in their approach to this issue: they treat immigration as a problem; they assume poor relations between the police and members of ethno-cultural minority groups primarily result from the attitudes of individual police officers; and they appear overly optimistic about the potential of police training to ameliorate poor relations. "Police Challenge 2000" appears to appreciate that policing occurs in a social context and to recognize that recruitment, deployment (community policing), citizen complaint procedures, and the professional standards and values of police personnel are crucial to ensuring that policing is conducted as fairly as possible. However, the goal of creating more equitable police-minority relations in Canada will remain illusive if the explanation of police-minority conflict is reduced to "problematic immigrants" and "prejudiced police officers." 25 references