Officer Involved Shootings In Winnipeg
This weekend Winnipeg woke up to news of the 3rd officer involved shooting within the last 2 weeks. It caused me to ask a very simple question: how do we stop police violence in Winnipeg? I was deliberately vague when I posted this question on Facebook, but considering the news that had just broke, people knew what I was referring to. The vagueness also helped me get a very broad range of feedback from people, with a good cross section of perspectives that challenged me and presented some ideas I had never thought of before.
The situations around each of those three incidents all vary - much like the responses I have been seeing from the community. Solid groups of thought have emerged in three main areas: first anti-police sentiment, on the polar opposite end of things another group that is pro police officer & then the undecideds in the middle. Many people, who had weak relationships with police and law enforcement in the first place, thanks to intergenerational experiences with family seperation and the police, have become even more vocally anti police and are calling for abolishment and developing something different. On the other end of things, many are vocally cheerful that our police are out there risking their lives to keep the rest of us safe and stop criminals. A small minority of vocal people in both groups are smearing the internet with hateful, racist rhetoric devaluing the lives of perpetrators and police alike. While this passionate debate roars, and often before all the facts have come to light, we have another group of folks somewhere in the middle, who agree with parts of the perspectives from either camp - these people don't know what to say, don't know what to do and are looking for trustworthy sources to find a realistic and appropriate response. The reality is we need each of these three groups to be able to express their emotions in healthy ways and then invite all hands on deck to help craft a solution that keeps us all safe.
Trauma, Trauma & Trauma
These officer involved shootings have shaken many people's confidence and trust in the police, resulting in activists calling for justice. I don't know what that looks like but I do know I am part of the helpers in our community who believe we need to take a balanced and humane approach - one that recognizes all of these situations are trauma packed on top of more trauma resulting in even more trauma for police and community alike. My hope is this approach will prevent further circumstances that result in shootings like these where citizens of Winnipeg end up dead at the hands of police. We have to look at every person involved in these situations and realize that we are dealing with traumatized people that need help, healing and support more often than they need punishment or death.
What should we do?
What I know is that because of the poverty and intergenerational tensions between indigenous people and the police - I am not surprised that three of the victims are indigenous. I know that many Indigenous young people I know have visceral and emotional reactions to even seeing the police, which may in turn cause police officers to treat them with increased suspicion. When traumatized people over react, and are faced with traumatized police who over react, people get shot. How do we prevent these things from a system level? I wrote about some ideas in 2019 (read them here) but I want to be humane and empathetic - what about the trauma in victims family members? What about the trauma for the police involved? What is the psychiatric follow up for all involved? Again, I don't know the specific answers here but I do have a few suggestions on places we may be able to start.
Empathy and restraint from the online commenters: if you have to share something right now I ask that you consider that there are grieving family members who may see your comment and behave appropriately. I always want to take the lead from the family members or those most directly affected in any crisis situation. When I don't have that direction I don't comment or act specifically on that family's behalf, I act generally, meaning check out evidence based approaches that have worked in other jurisdictions and look around for ways we may be able to apply that in our city or neighbourhood.
More prominent citizen role in Independant Investigation Unit [IIU]: The I.I.U. investigates all serious incidents involving police in Manitoba, such as officer involved shootings. There is a perception that this group of investigators are former police offers or are too close to the police to be impartial while investigating - even though they are all under the direction of a Civilian Director. I think they need to create an increased presence of civilians within the I.I.U. who can provide governance or oversight as well as be victim or family advocates of some sort & work with existing investigators on every case to prevent police bias.
System info released on lethal force protocols: Community members need to receive information about how police are trained and when they have to/don't have to use lethal force. This may be a simple case of explaining the trainings police officers already go through - or it may be as extreme as announcing any adjustments that are being made to police protocols in light of recent events.
More community involvement in prevention activities: take a look at the different community initiatives around you that support families, increase employment and education opportunities, provide harm reduction or mental health supports or help people who have made mistakes find healing or make better choices! If we make sure that kids and families have safe housing, food to eat, recreation and love, then people don't need to turn to crime.
Alignment / Consistency in Crime Prevention Strategies: The chief of police, the mayor and the premier need to all get on the same page of how to do crime prevention from an evidence informed, community based perspective. We have to agree on what to do, how to measure It, then do it together! We have to be intentional and look across many systems that affect the health and wellbeing of our neighbours and try to be smarter with the resources we have available. I have a dream where the province, city and neighbourhoods are able to agree on a shared definition of what crime prevention means and roles for all of us to take to make that plan a reality.
Obviously there are many more things that need to happen or change in order for these types of occurences, especially at this frequency, to stop happening. But I believe these 5 steps could help us reduce officer involved shootings in Winnipeg. I believe if we all get involved in preventing crime, understand how these systems work and gain a deeper appreciation of how childhood trauma affects adults - we can provide healing to people who hurt others. We can reduce our reliance on police and enforcement, we can see an increase in recreation opportunities and spaces and places for families to connect as a community so no one needs to commit crimes to get these things. I know I'm an idealist but I'm also a dreamer and a doer - I believe if we work together, we can make a strong community with no officer involved shootings a reality.
“If the police are able to articulate to the community when they show up in a situation that someone has a weapon we have to respond in this way ... then that will better help people in community deal with the police”
