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LETTER: Ex-Solicitor General says defunding police not the answer

A more realistic approach would be to 'fund' a solution to ... the approach to domestic incidents and mental health-related incidents, says letter writer
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As someone who has lived and worked in large cities and smaller communities, and as a lawyer, and elected representative, who served as Solicitor General of Canada for three years, I have some observations with respect to policing issues.

These observations are not targeted as it is difficult for a layman to determine which responsibilities are local and which are provincial. However, as I understand it the Orillia Police Services Board can make recommendations that are forwarded up the chain of command.

First and foremost, immediate steps must be taken at all levels to review and improve laws, policies and procedures to make sure they address systemic racism.

Hiring processes, aptitude tests, and interview procedures should be reviewed to make sure as much as possible that people with systemic racism tendencies are not hired in the first place.

Defunding the police by a percentage reduction of the overall budget is too simplistic and will not accomplish anything concrete.

A more realistic approach would be to “fund” a solution to a present problem such as the approach to domestic incidents and wellness (mental health) situations, deduct that amount from the police budget, and direct it to a special division within the police budget.

From what I have learned over the years, both these types of incidents often present a very real and dangerous situation that can escalate quickly and can harm the persons being investigated and the investigators, as well as compromise the investigation.

Why not form and train a dedicated team of people who are trained and equipped to deal with these types of incidents? Each detachment should have such a team with members of both sex. Male and female officers should be paired 24/7.

They should be equipped with body cameras and instructed that at no time should anyone be alone with a person of interest.

Elected officials should not tell the police how to police but they have a responsibility to advise the police as to what the public wants to achieve above pure law and order. At this point all police officials should be listening and looking for solutions.

That leads me to another issue: dealing with matters with a sense of urgency. Justice delayed is justice denied. All too often, charges in high profile incidents are laid long after the fact.

That does not comfort either the public or the police. Put a priority on addressing the incident, either by laying a charge and letting the courts sort it out, or by stating in a timely fashion that based on the evidence available, no charge or charges will be laid.

Now would also be a good time to examine the effectiveness of what we are doing and how we are doing it. In the Minneapolis situation, four officers were sent to investigate a counterfeit $20 bill. How effective is that?

Why was the full force of the law used, instead of a simple citation to appear in court at a later date?

In Fort McMurray, Alberta this past winter, officers were sent to monitor the closing of bars at the scheduled time presumeably to look for offenders driving under the influence. That's what everybody would assume anyway.

However, at least one officer diverted his attention to expired licence plate stickers and ended up with a national incident. To what end?

We have issues. Let's address them quickly.

Doug Lewis
Orillia

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