Summary
University of Winnipeg criminal justice professor Steve Kohm maintains that CrimeStat is simply a public relations exercise aimed at making Winnipeggers feel that something is being done about crime. According to Kohm, while CrimeStat-like programs can be useful in large cities like New York where the high volume of crimes demands sophisticated tracking analysis, Winnipeg is too small to achieve any significant benefits from such a system. In a city the size of Winnipeg, the police already know where the "hot spots" are -- this is not rocket science.
Winnipeg is the only major city in Canada that does not have a civilian police commission to provide oversight to the police service. The status quo approach regarding police governance in Winnipeg lacks accountability and is ineffective. Under the present system, the Winnipeg Police Service reports to a wide range of public officials -- this makes it difficult to ensure police accountability to the community. The provincial government needs to provide a leadership role regarding the development of meaningful rather than token civilian oversight of the Winnipeg Police Service. The provincial Police Act in Manitoba is outdated and needs to be modernized as it has not been reviewed since 1933. The Police Act in other provinces in Canada clearly sets out the mandate of civilian police commissions. The outdated Police Act does not adequately set out the role of municipal police commissions in our province.See the full content of this document
Extract
Police Governance Rules Need Updating
By Wanda Yamamoto
THE recently announced police advisory board is nothing more than a public relations strategy -- all sizzle and no substance.The proposed police advisory board is not based on the best practices of public policy in this field which emphasizes govern...See the full content of this document
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