NCJ Number
95969
Journal
Criminologie Volume: 17 Issue: 1 Dated: (1984) Pages: 9-41
Date Published
1984
Length
33 pages
Annotation
This paper evaluates research perspectives on the police role in fabricating criminal activity, using political events in Quebec to demonstrate the arbitrary, unilateral, and often conspiratorial manner in which police frequently carry out their tasks.
Abstract
The author focuses on changes in public perceptions of the police brought about by their suddenly visible role as the defender of the political legitimacy of the state, based on his experiences in investigating the Canadian authorities' invocation of the War Measures Act in October 1980 to deal with potential insurrections from large, politically organized minorities. This analysis questions several assumptions about the police role and concludes that certain police operations in political crises appear to be clearly illegal, even before being declared unwarranted. Over 90 references are supplied.